Xenodread
by Raiu Kusanagi
Summary: The death of a loved one sends Fei over the edge. The following fight alters the course of two realities, tearing several people from one and throwing them into the other.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of importance related to Xenogears.   
  
" " Speech  
| | Computer vocalization  
* * Action sounds or emphasis  
-+- Perspective change  
  
  
Xenodread  
Prologue  
By Raiu Kusanagi  
  
  


* * *

  


...loss... 

Elly is dead. 

...anger... 

They killed her. 

...hatred... 

Those bastards killed her. 

...rage... 

I'll destroy them. Nothing will stop me. Not even death itself. 

"HHHHRRRRRAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!" 

In the back of my mind, I was dimly aware of my companions' reactions to my scream. Shock and fear radiated off them in waves as I felt a rush of power flood my body, transforming it. 

Memories flowed through my mind, revealing that which I've denied since my arrival in Lahan. I remembered my past. I knew who I am. 

I am Id. 

"Citan. Get everyone out of here. Do it now, or you all die." 

I barely recognized the voice as my own, the anger and hatred in my soul warping it. Without waiting for a reaction from them, I began truly focusing my attention on the two monsters facing me. A smirk formed on my face as I recognized the "feel" of the aura surrounding the Executioner. 

"You can take the mask off now, Miang. It may hide your face, but it doesn't hide your stench, you parasite." 

She rewarded me with a slight gasp of surprise before her costume faded out of existence, revealing the indigo-haired parasite that allowed Elly to die. Before Ramsus or even Grahf could react, I'm in Miang's face, an insane grin crossing my own. 

In less time than it took me to reach Miang, I was hovering twenty yards over the bridge, holding the bitch by her throat. 

"You shouldn't have killed her, Miang," the words hissed from between clenched teeth. 

Her impassive stare wavered for a split second before she answered. 

"I was not... the one... that struck her down..." 

From the sound of her voice, I was cutting off her air supply. Like I care. 

"Doesn't matter. Ramsus is your puppet. You could have stopped him in less than a heartbeat." My smirk became a feral grin as a thought crossed my mind. "Give me one reason I should let you live after what you did to Elly." 

"I can... restore her to life... Fei." 

"How? By taking over her body like you did with my mother? Like you did with your current host? I'm not *that* stupid, bitch. And my *name* is *Id* now." 

Pain flooded her face as my free hand punched through her solar plexus and gripped her spine. With one light muscle flex, I crippled her for life. No more walking for her. 

"Tell me, Miang. How does it *feel* to be at the mercy of the monster you made? I find the irony of the situation amusing. The creator being killed by her own creation." My grin widened as shock slowly grew in her eyes. "That's right. I know exactly what you did to my mother." 

As I pulled my fist from Miang's body, pain flared in my right thigh. I look down at it to see Kahr's sword protruding from my leg. I saw Ramsus staring up at me, still in the follow through of throwing his sword. He rose to his full height and glared up at me, his eyes promising death as he shouted an ultimatum. 

"Release her or die, you monster!" 

I couldn't help but laugh at Ramsus' idiocy. I remove the sword and tossed it away, leaving it to fall to the planet's surface so far below. Passing my hand over the wound, I was pleased to see it seal up almost instantly, my body suit following suit less than a second later. When I looked at Ramsus again, I noticed something that slipped my attention the first time I looked. 

Grahf wasn't standing where he had been. In fact, he was nowhere to be seen. 

Only one thought crossed my mind: 

Oh shit. 

He'd gone to get his Gear. I may be able to destroy Gears without my own, but Grahf's Gear was another matter entirely. It's power was nearly unimaginable. But then... so was my Gear's. 

I activated the neural transmitter designed to transform and summon Weltall. 

I let Miang slip from my grasp as I searched for Grahf or his Gear. If I could hold him off long enough for Weltall to get here, I should be able to match him easily. 

As I searched, I felt a presence appear behind me. Turning around, I saw Grahf's Gear hovering before me. 

"You've failed, Id. With the Antitype dead, you're of no use to me anymore." 

Damn. Weltall won't be here for another five seconds. 

5 

Grahf lashed out with a right hook, one fast enough to have me flying at full speed away from it only to have it miss by mere inches. He followed up with a left hook. Again I dodged, but barely. 

4 

His Gear spun around, trying to catch me with a spinning backhand. I ducked the hand and get sent flying into a wall when the hand snaps back in the direction it had just come from, defying all the laws of inertia and momentum. 

3 

Pain flooded my body, slowing my reflexes enough so that I was barely able to catch the knee blade Grahf tries to skewer me with. Pushing with all my strength, plus some Chi enhancement, I managed to shove the blade off to one side, imbedding it in the wall beside me. Too close. 

2 

I leaped out of the wall in an attempt to get away from Grahf. I failed miserably. Grahf anticipated my move and slammed me into the bridge. I think I felt a couple of ribs crack from the impact alone. 

1 

Grahf punched me a couple more times, pushing me deeper into the metal walkway, before pulling his fist back and charging it with energy in a manner similar to my Raijin technique. 

0 

I smiled painfully as a red blur slams into Grahf's Gear. I concentrated for a moment and felt more power flow through my body, healing my wounds. I gazed at Weltall for a second, taking in the way the red armor reflected sunlight off a few of the more angular planes on it. Weltall turned to me and opened the cockpit just long enough for me to leap in. 

The neural interface activated, giving me complete mental control of the weapons systems while my hands and feet operated the motive control system. I turned to Grahf and smirk silently as the Ether Amplifier began channeling my own power into Weltall, making it a frighteningly powerful war machine. I could almost picture Grahf snarling under that mask of his as his Gear flew at me, one arm pulled back to deliver a devastating blow. 

The battle had begun in earnest. 

Grahf and I traded blows that could sink islands faster than the human eye could follow. Even I had trouble keeping track of how quickly we struck at each other. When it became apparent that this was getting us nowhere, Grahf and I pulled back and begin exchanging salvo after salvo of energy blasts. He may have been able to fire his off quicker than I can, but his were far weaker and much less accurate than mine.  
  
-+-  
  


"Doc, what's going on?!" Bart shouted as he and the rest of Fei's allies huddled near the doors to escape most of the destruction caused by the two fighting Gears. 

Unnoticed by the two combatants, but quite visible to the spectators, arcs of green electricity began forming around them and the surrounding area. Bart and Citan absently noted Ramsus dragging Miang's body away from the fight and the group. 

"It appears - oh my... god." Citan gasped. "Those two are throwing reactive blasts around like there's no tomorrow!" 

"Ya think?!" Bart snapped. 

"What I meant was, the blasts are beginning to react with the energy field surrounding Solaris." 

"That would classify as a bad thing, wouldn't it?" Rico deadpanned. 

"Extremely!" Citan replied. "If they don't stop soon, they may just tear a hole in space-time. Should they do that, there's no telling what the effects could be! It could merely destroy both Gears and their pilots... *or*... it could tear apart the entire planet." 

"How the hell could they do that?!" 

"Reactive weapons are called that for a very good reason: they react negatively with reality itself. That's why you almost never see multiple reactive weapons being fired this closely to each other. If too much reactive energy builds up too quickly, it begins tearing apart reality." 

In the back of the group, Emeralda's eyes gleamed as her fists clenched, her mouth tightening in determination. Without warning, she shot forward, pushing past Billy and Citan easily, and tossed Rico aside in an unexpected show of strength. She ran toward the fight faster than anyone can hope to catch her and leaped into the air in the direction of Id's Weltall.   
  
-+-  
  


I paused just as I was about to throw another energy blast at Grahf when the impact sensors detected something slam into Weltall's leg. Activating an external camera, I saw Emeralda climbing up my leg, her fingers leaving miniscule pockmarks where she pushed them into the armor to create handholds. Chuckling, I fired up Weltall's chain guns, pelting Grahf with enough ammo to give him pause long enough for Emeralda to reach the cockpit. 

Taking a risk, I opened the hatch and waited for her to climb in before sealing it again. 

"Welcome, Emeralda." I greeted her, firing off another salvo of chain gun fire while I prepared to unleash more energy blasts. "What are you doing here?" 

"Emeralda doesn't want to lose Kim." The girl replied, sitting down in my lap, but managing to stay out of my way at the same time. "Citan say that if Kim doesn't stop, Kim may die. May destroy planet, too." 

"I don't care. They killed Elly. I've got no reason to continue living. Once I take care of Grahf, I'll probably follow in his footsteps." 

"Kim... doesn't care about... Emeralda?" 

"No, Emeralda." I replied, dodging a volley of energy blasts from Grahf. "I do care. I should have been more specific. I plan to wipe Solaris off the face of the planet." 

"Why?" 

"Revenge." 

Weltall shuddered as a volley of blasts hit it in the chest. Crap. The chain guns just got taken out. Thankfully, Grahf's blasts didn't penetrate deep enough to hit the ammo storage, they just slagged the mechanisms themselves. 

"Why are you here anyway?" I asked as I tag Grahf's Gear in the stomach with an energy blast, tearing a chunk of metal away. 

Grahf retaliated with a series of small lasers firing from the gems on his Gear's chest. He almost caught me by surprise there. Too bad the gems glowed for a second before firing. The lasers passed harmlessly by me. 

Heh. Loser. 

"Citan say that if you no stop fighting, very bad thing happen." 

"Hmph. Yeah, sure. Like what?" 

As if on cue, warning lights and alarms began flashing and blaring throughout the cockpit. 

|WARNING: QUANTAM FLUX DETECTED. EVASIVE ACTION SUGGESTED. TIME UNTIL FLUX ERUPTION: TWO SECONDS.| 

If it were possible, my face would have grown quite a bit paler just then. My eyes widened in shock as a hole in reality appears between Grahf and I. 

"That." 

I smiled weakly at Emeralda's statement and begin activating every countermeasure I could think of to escape the suction of the hole. On the other side of it, I could see Grahf trying to fly away from it. 

Oh, no you don't, boss. If I die, so do you. 

Activating the booster system, I urged Weltall forward, around the hole toward Grahf. I was barely able to reach him, but it's enough. Grabbing onto the wings of his Gear and pulling him toward me, I was able to lock my arms around Grahf as I'm pulled into the hole. 

"Tough luck, Grahf." I commented over the radio. "Looks like you won't be getting away so easily, does it?" 

If Grahf responded, I'll never know. Searing agony of a magnitude I'd never felt before flooded my mind. As I lost consciousness, I was barely aware of Emeralda screaming as well.   
  
+ + + +  
TBC...   
+ + + +  
  
Author's notes: If Fei/Id seems OOC, oh well. The game never really showed what Fei would be like if his main and Id personas were merged without Id and the Coward reconciling. Also, it never gave an idea of how learned Id was. I figure he had to be fairly knowledgeable; he did build his own Gear, after all. And a damn fine job of it, too. The red Weltall is easily the coolest Gear in the game - with the possible exception of Xenogears itself. As for the reactive weapon explanation, there wasn't one in the game, so I figured I'd make my own. Just the easiest way of taking Fei where I want him to go. C&C is welcome, but flames will be used to fuel Id's insanity. Then I'll sic 'im on the flamer. 


	2. Chapter 1 Where The Hell Am I?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of importance related to Xenogears or Vandread.  
  
  
" " Speech  
Thought  
| | Computer vocalization  
- - Telepathy  
* * Action sounds or emphasis  
-+- Perspective change  
( ) Author's notes  
  
  
Xenodread  
Chapter 1 – Where The Hell Am I?!  
By Raiu Kusanagi  
  
  


* * *

  


"Sorry about this, Captain." A young woman named Meia Gisborn with light blue hair said. "You had to come all the way up here." 

"There's no need to apologize. I simply wanted to see this with my own eyes." An aged woman by the name of Magno Vivan replied, walking ahead of the group of women she'd arrived with and gazing around until something caught her eye. "Hm?" 

"This is the man Dita was chasing," Meia supplied, staring down at an unconscious young man. 

"It's been a while since I last saw a man. "Were their faces really this funny looking?" 

Before Meia could comment on that, a sound caught everyone's attention. They all turned toward the source of the sound just in time to see a section of crystal crack, then shatter as a hatch of some kind opened in the shadowy mass beneath the thin layer of crystal. As the group watched, a figure stumbled into view only to fall to the ground in surprise as it stepped out of the hatch. The women watched for a moment until it was obvious the figure wasn't going to get up, then slowly walked toward it. 

"It's a man?" Meia stated tentatively. 

"And a woman," Jura Basli Elden, a voluptuous blonde wearing a dress with a plunging neckline, added. 

The red-haired one they assumed was a man rolled over on his back with a groan, proving their guess right. Unfortunately, the man rolled so that his head was nearly between Jura's legs. His eyes slowly opened, revealing violet irises. 

"Oooh..." The man sleepily mumbled. "Nice view..." 

As Jura began sputtering angrily, the man passed out. 

"I don't think it's any use getting angry at him now, Jura." The Captain chuckled. "BC, have both these men taken to a cell. Bring the woman to my quarters. I'd like to know what she was doing with a man."  
  
+ + + +  
-+-  
  


"Ugh..." 

Pain. What a *wonderful* feeling. Let's you know you're still alive, after all. 

"What the hell happened?" 

"Are you alright?" A calm voice asked. 

Citan?! Wait a sec! 

"Grahf! Where -" 

I was cut off by the fact that I just slammed my head into something metal as I reflexively sat up. 

Ouch. Of course, that's just in my mind. In reality, I was a bit more... vocal about it. 

"Ow! OW! *OW*! Sonuvabeotch piece of shit!" 

Lifting one hand to rub my sore forehead as I sat up again - carefully, this time - I noted that I was wearing some sort of restraint around my wrists. Focusing on them briefly, I tried to break them with a quick snap only to find that it's some kind of elastic cord. 

Damn. 

Oh well, no big deal for now. Finding out where the hell I was was much more important. 

Looking around, I saw that I was in a large holding cell with green lasers fore bars. Joy. And there were two guys - one with long hair that looks like he's about Citan's age and the other a couple years younger than me with spikey hair - and an egg-shaped robot with arms and legs in the cell with me. Joy times two. 

"Guh... anyone get the name of that Rankar that kicked me in the head?" 

"Uh, what's a Rankar?" 

Is this kid an idiot or something? 

"You know," I started, "big green bipedal lizard, mouth the size of an oxcow, and breath bad enough to knock over a Gear?" 

"I've never heard of something like that." The long-haired guy said. "And I don't understand some of the terms you used. What are an oxcow and a Gear?" 

I took a moment to stare at both of my cellmates incredulously before answering. 

"My god, you guys must come from a sheltered home. An oxcow is a domesticated pack animal used to drive carts and wagons in the more isolated areas of the world. And Gears... my god, how could you not know about them?! They're everywhere! They're giant, humanoid, piloted robots." 

"Oh, you mean the Vanguards!" The kid exclaimed. 

"Vanguards? What are you talking about?" 

"Those are the giant robots you were talking about!" 

Okay. I think I'll just... play along for now. 

"Just where the hell are we anyway?" 

"We're in the brig of the old section of the Ikazuchi," the older guy answered. 

Like that answered my question. 

"Oh, by the way, I'm... Fei. Fei Fong Wong. And you guys?" 

"I'm Hibiki Tokai," the kid replied, puffing out his chest. 

Full of himself, ain't he? 

"Duero McFile." 

"Nice to meet you. Why exactly are we in here?" 

"You sure ask a lot of questions," Hibiki stated. 

"So I'm curious. Big deal. That doesn't answer my question, though." 

"The women captured the Ikazuchi and put us here when something started happening between their ship and the Ikazuchi. They're probably trying to figure out what to do with us." 

Okay... this is getting very odd. Before I could comment on that, a voice interrupted my thoughts. 

"So, you're awake." 

I looked up to see three women standing outside the cell. The one in front was obviously the leader. Not bad looking either. Bronze colored skin, silvery hair, steely grey eyes, and an outfit that was quite revealing even though it only showed the skin on her arms and midriff. The other two were obviously grunts in uniforms that were most likely designed more for comfort than utility, despite their uniformity. The two grunts were also pointing their right fists at us, odd rings adorning those index fingers. I could just barely see what looks like a firing stud on the side of the rings under their thumbs. 

"Wo-women!!" 

Hibiki's exclamation startled me out of my studying. I glanced over to see him fall backwards in surprise. 

"What are you planning to do to me?! What am I doing here?!" 

"Calm down, idiot." I sighed. "Stop acting like they're some sort of alien species. They're just women." 

... okay, maybe that wasn't such a good thing to say, judging by their expressions. I think they couldn't decide whether to be angry at me for that last comment or be surprised about something. 

"Are you insane?!" Hibiki snapped at me. "They wanna eat our guts!" 

"Eat your... guts?" The silver-haired woman asked, disgust and incredulity warring in her expression. 

I burst out laughing half a second after the two grunts started giggling and nearly cracked my head on that damn shelf again when I fell backward. Apparently, that was enough to stop the grunts in mid-giggle, because then they were staring at me like I'm some sort of freak show. 

"That was a good one, kid." I croaked out, barely managing to get control of my laughter. "Where the hell'd ya come up with that, eh?" 

"Well," the leader began, "you certainly are an interesting one, aren't you?" 

"Lady," I chuckled, "you have no idea." 

"Before we have dinner, our Captain wishes to speak with the three of you." She stated before turning to me. "Particularly you." 

"Hey, no problems from me. Just as long as we don't have to stay in this cell any longer." 

"You don't have to worry about that. You'll be coming with us." 

I stood up only to nearly fall down as a wave of dizziness washed over me. I stumbled a bit before managing to shake it off. 

As we were heading to wherever their Captain is, I saw Hibiki reach out and poke the flatchested grunt in the butt. Stupid perv. The grunt turned around with an indignant expression of rage just in time to see me smack Hibiki upside the back of his head. 

As I lowered my arms, something finally penetrated my thick skull. My arms weren't the bleach white they normally were when I'm Id. And I didn't remember reverting. Eh, so what. I decided to think about it later. 

"Idiot. You don't poke women in the ass. It's just plain rude." I lectured the boy before turning to the grunt. "You can slap him all you want now." 

The girl stared at me oddly for a moment before turning around and continuing on. Weird people. 

A few minutes later, we were sat down in some sort of interrogation room. We were all sitting on a double-sided metal bench - Duero in the middle with me on his right and Hibiki on his left - in the middle of the room with the two grunts behind us and the leader beside the bench. Shortly after we sat down, another woman walked in with a blonde guy just in front of her with his hands behind his head. From my angle, I could see she had a ring just like the two grunts. The guy was wearing some sort of brown uniform with red lapels and puffy thighs. His hair was short, but with his bangs cut like a couple of floppy bunny ears. He had his eyes closed and was grinning nervously. 

Another idiot. 

The young woman looked like she was about my age and had sky blue hair. Her outfit was a white, black, and gray bodysuit with puffed out shoulders and a wide collar. She was also wearing a weird head piece that wrapped around the left side of her head. Despite that, it was her eyes that caught my attention. They were sky blue like her hair, but I could almost sense a hidden sadness behind them, like she'd lost someone important to her and it scarred her life. 

Boy, could I relate to that, or what? 

Oh, Elly... 

NO! Can't. Think. About. That! Much as I deserve it, I couldn't afford to become too depressed right then. 

"What's up?" Silver-hair asked. "You found another?" 

"Yes." The blue-haired woman replied. "He was trying to hide in the platform." 

"H-hey, comrades." The blonde idiot stuttered. "Glad to see you here." 

"My goodness." An aged voice interrupted. "I'd heard you'd rounded up some prisoners but they're just kids." 

It was an old woman wearing a heavy robe and cowl outfit with a cane. From just looking at her, I could tell she was the Captain. Just a sort of aura about her. 

"Hey, hey!" that egg-shaped robot decided to speak up. "It's time to interrogate! I'll tell you everything!" 

"Oh, my. How nostalgic. It's a Navi-Robot. And this one still seems to function, eh?" 

"I'm not following this," Duero commented. 

"You ain't the only one, buddy," I chipped in. 

"Oh, you're the one we found with that woman, aren't you?" the Captain asked as she grabbed one of the stools that had been next to the door and sat down on it. 

Woman? 

"Emeralda? Where is she?" 

"You needn't worry about her -" 

*SNAP* 

That was the sound of my restraints breaking. Maybe my patience as well. Hey, she thinks of me as a father and risked her own life just to be with me. Why wouldn't I be worried about her? 

"Where. Is. She?" 

I was dimly aware of my aura flaring to life around me as the three women with rings aimed them at me, their thumbs hovering over the firing studs. 

"You needn't get testy, young man." The Captain said. "I was just about to tell you that she's in my quarters. I had her taken there so that I could ask her some questions, but she has yet to wake up." 

"Well, then..." 

I let my aura fade and relaxed slightly, bowing my head to the Captain. 

"I apologize for overreacting, but I've been under a great deal of stress lately and my patience isn't all I would wish it was right now." 

I sat down, barely noticing the way Hibiki was openly staring at me in shock while Duero was merely watching me with a raised eyebrow. The blonde idiot looked like he was about to piss his pants. 

"Apology accepted. It happens to all of us at one time or another." The Captain stated, gesturing to the three women to stand down. "Now then, if that's out of the way, what are we going to do with you four?" 

"This a men's ship, isn't it?" 

Well, Hibiki seemed to have lost his awe quickly. Guess he's got a short attention span. 

"Yes, and before that is was..." 

Hmmm. That's odd. The room seemed to be getting brighter. Not to mention it was like a sauna in here. And what the hell was that humming sound?  
  
-+-  
  


"But the problem is, what are we supposed to - what's wrong with him?" 

The rest of the people in the room followed her gaze to Fei. He was hunched over, holding his head in pain, his eyes clenched shut as sweat poured down his face. With a groan of pain, he fell to his knees on the floor. As the group watched in morbid fascination, Fei slumped forward, slapping his hands onto the floor just in time to keep his face from slamming into the metal plating and began coughing, flecks of blood splattering on the floor. One of his hands slid up to hold himself across the chest as more blood began coming up with each cough. 

"Get these off!" Duero stated, turning to the silver-haired woman, whose name was Buzam A Calessa, or BC. "I'm a doctor. I need to help him!" 

A wet splat followed quickly by a dull thud halted BC before she could do anything. Everyone that had turned their attention to Duero turned back to Fei to see him lying on his side, a small mass of flesh of some sort in a pool of blood less than a foot from his head. Duero rushed to Fei's side and pressed the first two fingers of one hand against Fei's neck. 

"He's still alive," Duero sighed. 

"Would someone explain what just happened?" the blonde man, Bart Garsus, asked.  
  
-+-  
  


"Would someone explain what just happened?" 

Wha...? 

Ugh. Ouch. 

Felt like I just coughed up a lung. 

Blinking my eyes open, I saw that that's probably not far from the truth. I painfully pushed myself off the ground, but couldn't get farther than my knees right then. 

Wait a sec... That chunk of flesh just moved. 

Oh lovely, it was some sort of parasite. No, it was the - aw shit. 

Well, I knew how to deal with that. 

Without further thought, I charged my fist with Chi and slammed it down onto the creature. So much for that. 

They're gonna have fun fixing that dent. 

I looked around at everyone else in the room. They were all staring at me in varying degrees of shock or surprise. 

"I agree with the young man." The Captain said, breaking the silence. "What in the world was that?" 

|There's something approaching!| A woman's voice filtered through the radio at the silver-haired woman's hip. 

She grabbed the radio and spoke into it. 

"Is it male reinforcements?" 

|Actually -| 

|They're UFO's!| A different voice cut off the first. 

Cracks started forming in the ceiling and wall in one corner of the room as the ship was rocked by an impact. 

|They're attacking us!| 

"Danger! Danger!" The Navi-Robot began squealing. 

"What's going on this time?" Hibiki asked. 

"We're under attack, you idiot," I growled. 

The ship was rocked again, prompting the blue-haired woman to leave, saying, "Dreads are going out." 

I started ignoring the conversations around me as I tried calling out to Weltall. Instead of the usual mental beep of confirmation, I felt an odd warmth flood my mind, comforting me and... giving me directions?! 

Wait... it was just giving me an impression where it was in relation to myself. Odd. Oh, well. 

I was startled out of my reverie by a voice in the back of my mind. 

-All systems fully functional. Warning: unknown vessel approaching Ikazuchi. Size is approximately equal to that of the Ikazuchi.- 

What?! 

Glancing around, I saw that the blonde idiot was talking with the Captain, Hibiki was on the ground, and Duero was crouching over a woman that had been pinned when the wall apparently collapsed on the other side of the bench. 

"I can't do anything here!" Duero snapped. "Take me to sick bay!" 

"All right, then." The Captain replied, then looked at the idiot. "You come to the bridge with me young man. BC, you take the other two to the warehouse." 

"Right." 

"No." I cut in. "Let me help fight whatever it is that's attacking us." 

"And why should we do that, young man?" 

"Because fighting is one of the few things I'm good at and like doing. Besides, you and the idiot there decided to at least work together. I'll go with that." 

I love being able to subconsciously memorize nearly everything that happens around me. 

Seeing the Captain hesitate, I quickly added, "If you want, when the fighting is over, I'll tell you everything I know, even give you any technical data I have about my Gear, Weltall." 

"Don't you mean your Vanguard?" Hibiki asked. 

"Whatever. Just let me fight. Please." 

The Captain studied me for a moment before nodding. I started to leave the room, only to be stopped by BC. 

"Wait. I'll show you how to -" 

"Don't worry." I smirked. "I can find it on my own." 

Without waiting for anyone to say otherwise, I ran out the door and down the hallway. I managed to make good time following the impressions I was getting from Weltall.   
  
+ + + +  
-+-  
  


"Shut up!" A young girl named Paiway Underberg shouted, standing up and placing one foot on the desk in front of her. "No one else is allowed to get hurt!" 

Just then, the door hissed open, revealing a red-haired man with violet eyes. 

"Whoops! Wrong way!" 

Before they could respond or react in any way, the man was gone, the door hissing shut behind him.  
  
-+-  
  


That was more then a bit weird. Guess I'll have to be more careful about which doors I open. 

Hmmm. Let's see... it's this way now. Then up these stairs... 

Jackpot! Now if I could just locate it in all this crystal. 

A cracking noise caught my attention. I turned around just in time to see a large mass of crystal shatter, revealing the Gear beneath it. 

Holy Mother of Nisan! Is that Weltall?! 

-Affirmative. Unit formerly known as Weltall has been upgraded through unknown means.- 

"Self?!" 

-Self is the semi-autonomous control system of Unit Xenogears.- 

Xenogears, eh? I liked the sound of that. But the bit about being semi- autonomous... 

Whatever. I can worry about that later. 

Open up. 

The chest plate popped open, allowing me to jump in. Once I was settled into the seat, I took a look at the controls as the chest plate closed. Hmmm. A green sphere set in a socket on each side of the seat. Rather simplistic. Let's try it out. 

I placed my hands on the spheres, which immediately raised out of the sockets and white lines formed on them, roughly tracing my hands. The chest plate slid shut and the main screen - scratch that; only screen - came to life, giving me a nearly 360 degree field of vision. I looked to each side and noted that the view shifted to follow my line of sight. 

Very nice! 

How about weapons? A cluster of holographic screens pop into life on either side of me. Hmmm... Okay, reactive blasters were replaced by ion cannons that double as energy blades when not firing. Nice. Chain guns still there, fully repaired and upgraded with increased rate of fire and penetration power. 

Now how the hell do I get out of here? 

Weltall turned on its own and began walking. A few seconds later, I could see that we were approaching a launching ramp. Weltall reached the end of it and knelt down on the launch pad. 

-Initiating launch sequence.- 

The acceleration of the launch slammed me back into my seat. 

"YEEEEEEEEHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!!" 

Heh. If only the team could see me now. They had no clue how much I actually enjoy piloting my Gear. Weltall shot out of the ship at high speed and flew around to where most of the fighting was going on. 

Oooooooh... 

A target rich environment. 

How nice of them.  
  
-+-  
  


Meia growled as she dodged enemy fire and strafed a cluster of the mecha. 

"There's just too many of them." Jura commented over the holo-screen. "We've got to strike the main system." 

"I agree with you. But if there was some way to get our ship mobilized." 

"YEEEEEEEEHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!!" 

"What in the?" 

As Meia watched, a large white mecha shot out of the Ikazuchi and came flying toward her. The mecha pointed an arm at her and fired a thin beam of green energy from the blade on the back of the arm. Meia twisted her Dread out of the way only to be rocked by an explosion from behind. Turning around, she saw the charred pieces of an enemy mecha floating away from each other. 

So, it wasn't firing at me. 

|You really need to pay more attention to your surroundings, you know,| an unfamiliar and decidedly male voice commented over Meia's radio as a holograph screen popped open to one side, revealing Fei's face grinning at her. 

"You! What the hell are you doing out here?!" 

|Saving your ass from the looks of it.| 

About that time, Xenogears reached Meia's Dread and slowed to a stop. Meia got her first good look at the Gear then. At nearly the size of Dita's Dread, the white and cobalt Gear was an impressive machine and greatly changed from its original design. The head fin had become a trio of white horns, one on each side that curved out slightly, then back and up, and one on top that curved up and back with a large emerald set at its blue base, while the red & blue face was nearly unchanged, the glowing green eyes staring down at Meia's Dread. Six white spikes jutted out behind the Gear, two from each shoulder and one forming the junction between the torso and the arms, which was angled so that each shoulder was slightly higher than the torso. The upper torso looked molded from a single piece of white armor, while the lower torso was blue with white groin plating. The legs were almost totally white, with only the knees and feet being blue, while the arms were nearly identical to a human wearing a blue bodysuit with white gloves. On each forearm was a bracer-sized shield with a thick green blade extending from each but leaving enough room for the hands to have full mobility. 

"By the way, I'm Fei Fong Wong. And you?" 

"Meia Gisborn," Meia replied distractedly, still staring at Xenogears.  
  
-+-  
  


"Hey, I know Xenogears is impressive, but you really should pay attention to your surroundings," I commented, firing another ion blast at an approaching Gear. 

Damn, this was sweet. My Gear had never run better! 

The engine output was nearly tripled and I didn't have to worry about fuel anymore because of the new engine. The ion cannons were about the same strength as my old reactive blasters, but I didn't have to worry about any negative side effects. 

An even cooler fact was that the control spheres followed my hands. Wherever I moved them, the spheres would follow. Makes fighting that much more satisfying if you can even subconsciously feel like you're helping your Gear by moving around instead of remaining in one constant position. 

"Hey, Meia. I'm gonna make a run for the main ship. Could you try to distract the Gears for me?" 

"What?! I don't take orders from you!" 

"I wasn't giving you an order. I was *asking* if you could distract those Gears for me." 

"Listen, you –" 

"Whatever," I sighed as I cut off the comm-link. 

On that note, I urged Xenogears forward and shot toward the large seed-like thing that was spitting out cubes of Gears.  
  
+ + + +  
-+-  
  


As Fei was on his way to Xenogears, BC was leading Hibiki to the warehouse with a redheaded guard to escort them. 

"Looks like it'll be a while before this place stabilizes." BC stated, examining a hole in a wall of the hallway they were in. "I'm afraid there's not gonna be too much hope for us if we can't get control of the ship. It would probably be the end of us if the men attack." BC turned to stare at Hibiki for a moment before continuing. "Just out of curiosity, why didn't you volunteer to go with the other one when he asked us to let him fight?" 

"Well..." Hibiki slowly replied. "I'm not actually a pilot of the Vanguard. The truth is, I'm just a parts mechanic, that's all" 

"Huh? So what are you doing here?" 

"That's a really funny question, actually. Y'see, I sorta got suckered into doing this pretty stupid thing. I sorta said I would steal one of the Vanguards. Heh, I mean I don't want you to get the wrong idea or anything..." 

"I guess the data we had was incorrect, because I had always heard that men were a proud race. But who would have ever thought that they are such pathetic beings." Hibiki gasped slightly in response to that. "No matter what the reason, aren't you here because of your pride? Or is it that you've got yourself here because of the need to show proof of your existence? Male or female, it doesn't matter now. 

"In situations like this, what it comes down to is we are human beings who breath the same oxygen. While there are people around you desperately trying to overcome this crisis, are you simply going to curl up like a helpless baby and wait for the final moments to come? What deficiencies are you trying to make up for right now? What do you think you can hide at a time like this? No matter how much of a loser you are, or how uncool you are, if you cower at every obstacle in front of you, nothing will ever change. And without change, your race will shrivel up and die. Do you understand that?" 

"But - I don't know..." Hibiki answered before slumping to his knees. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" 

"I guess I didn't need to say all that." BC stated as she started to walk by the teen and looked over at the guard. "Let's go back to the bridge." 

"Yes, but -" 

"Don't worry." BC replied, looking back at Hibiki for a moment. "This guy has absolutely nowhere to run to now. And... neither do we." 

With that said, the two women walked away from Hibiki. 

What...? What am I supposed to do? I don't know!  
  
+ + + +  
  
A few minutes later  
  


BC walked onto the bridge and stood next to Magno. 

"Is there a chance we'll escape?" 

"Well, your guess is as good as mine," the Captain replied just before the ship was rocked by an impact. 

"Port side engine has taken a hit!" One of the bridge crew reported. "Shields weakening!" 

"We won't get too far under conditions like these," Magno commented. 

"Damn it!" Fei's voice snarled over the comm lines as his face appeared in a holographic screen at the front of the bridge. "Someone get us some backup out here! Pronto! Systems fully functional my ass! They're only operating at twenty to thirty percent, if I'm lucky!" 

"So, you managed to survive this long in one of those Vanguards, hm?" 

"Vanguard? HAH! Don't make me laugh! The Xenogears is nothing like those rusty buckets of bolts I saw in the platform!" 

"Oh?" Magno replied, then turned to one of the bridge crew. "Show me his fighter." 

Another screen popped up, showing the Xenogears just as it cut through a trio of enemy mecha in a spiraling slash. 

"Oh, my. That is rather impressive, isn't it?" 

"Heh. Just watch this." 

With that, the Xenogears pointed one arm at a quartet of approaching mecha and fired of another ion blast, catching the center mech in the chest. The resulting explosion incinerated the other three. 

"Impressive. So why are you still concentrating on the fighters instead of the main ship?" 

"It's a bit hard not to concentrate on them when they swarm you, ya know! Wait. Xenogears, you got any other weapons? Ion Buster, eh? Let's do it!" 

The screen showed Xenogears turning toward the enemy's main ship and pointed its arms forward like the tines of a tuning fork. Green electricity began running up and down the arms for a moment before a large beam of energy shot forward from between the blades, striking the sphere on the side. The beam continued firing for a couple more seconds before fading. When everyone looked at the ship again, all they saw was a scorch mark on its side. 

"GODDAMMIT!! I didn't even scratch it! We're gonna have to tag that thing from - oh, shit. I think I pissed 'em off." 

The enemy mecha had stopped attacking the Dreads and were all swarming toward Xenogears as the main ship launched another pair of cubes, both of which broke into the fighters and made a beeline toward Fei. 

"Hey! Take these things off me!" Hibiki shouted as a second holo-screen with his face appeared. "How do you expect me to do anything with 'em on?!" 

"What's he talking about?" Magno asked. 

"Hmp. Please leave this to me." BC replied, looking up at Hibiki's face on the screen. "What do you plan to do?" 

"I've decided! I'm going to help you fight!" 

"Fight?" Incredulity was obvious in BC's voice. "You?" 

"I know I'm a loser. I'm totally uncool. Believe me, I know that's not who I wanna be anymore!" 

"Is this a man's nature, or are you just trying to be defiant?" 

"NO! That's not the way it is right now! It's so I can become stronger, but also, more important than that, to prove my own existence!" 

"Hm." BC smirked as she lifted a small handheld device and pressed the button on it. 

Back in the hallway, Hibiki's manacles instantly released, freeing his arms. 

"Okay! You won't regret this!" 

"Hibiki, no!" Fei shouted just before Hibiki's face disappeared. "Hibiki! Damn fool kid!" 

"What's wrong?" Magno inquired. 

"If he takes one of the Vanguards, he's gonna get slaughtered before he even gets a shot off! The only chance he has is if he takes that Gear I saw in the platform!" 

"Then let's hope he makes the right choice," the Captain said. 

"Aw, crap. I gotta cut communications. These damn things are swarming all over me and I can't spare the concentration for anything but fighting!" 

With that, the screen with Fei's face winked out of existence.  
  
+ + + +  
  


"I got here as fast as I could, partner!" Hibiki yelled as he ran through a doorway into the platform, only to stop dead at the sight that greeted him. 

The Vanguard that he had marked was lying in a pile of the blue crystal that was everywhere on the ship. However, it had been changed much as Xenogears had. The now yellow-orange and off-white powered suit was bulkier, but more streamlined. Two vents formed the junction between each shoulder epaulet and the torso. The armor on the arms was thicker while the hands now had four fingers and a thumb. The elbow fans of the standard Vanguards were still there, but didn't show any signs of beign able to open. The leg armor had also become thicker, but more articulated. Had Hibiki known of its existence, he would have decided that the legs from the calves down and the feet were remarkably similar to those of the Andvari Gear. The knees had split open into a pair of spikes, one above and one below the actual joint, while the groin armor had sealed into a single piece that resembled the Xenogears' armor. The head was more human shaped, with two spherical green eyes and a flat face plate beneath them. Two sword hilts stuck out on the right side of the double sheath that was attached horizontally to the Vanguard's back. 

"Hey, partner." Hibiki said, as he walked up to the Vanguard and ran his hand over the mark he'd left on it. "So you've changed a little bit, huh? But I guess this is still you, isnt' it?" 

Hibiki smirked cockily as a thought came to him. 

"Alright, I'll just have to change myself, too!" He stated before hopping up into the open cockpit. 

I can't - I can't blow it this time! The teen silently vowed as he settled into the seat. I swear I'll do it! 

"I have no idea how to use this thing, but I'll make it move with my mind!" Hibiki snarled, then gasped in surprise when the Vanguard came to life and stood up, the cockpit hatch closing in the process. 

"I - I'm making it move! I'm really doing it!" Hibiki exclaimed as the Vanguard walked over and settled into the launching pad. "This is my chance! To finally do something with my life!" 

The teen pushed the controls forward and the launching pad responded, hurling him out into space. He was promptly attacked by a group of enemy mecha that broke away from the cloud surrounding Xenogears to attack him.  
  
-+-  
  


Well, the kid actually made the right choice. Let's hope he can handle that thing. 

"Hibiki!" I shouted, activating the comm-link to his Gear. "Get to the main system and destroy it. You'll have to get inside somehow, but I'll do my damndest to keep these bastards occupied for you!" 

"Right!" 

I'll give the kid credit. He's got a knack for piloting. He was already getting the hang of piloting in Zero-G while I was still relying on Xenogears to keep me from screwing up! 

"Here you go! Lightning Fist!" 

Oh please no... don't tell me he just did what I thought he did... 

Yup. He did. 

Ouch. That explosion must've hurt. 

"Alright, take this!" Hibiki shouted as he whipped out one of his swords and started spinning it around like a pro. 

Hmmm. He could probably give Ramsus a run for his money if they fought in a Gear duel. The kid just took out two of the enemy Gears in one move. Not bad for a beginner. Hope he can keep it up. 

Yes, he could most definitely keep it up. He just shot toward the main system, cutting down enemy Gears left and right as if they weren't even there. I'd have to check later if that was natural talent or his Gear compensating for his bravado. 

I briefly wondered why that blue fighter is following him. Oh, well. I had better things to be doing. Like taking out the Gears that were still swarming me. 

"Die bastards!" 

Tick me off enough and you'll have a friggin' blood bath on your hands. I was just sorta glad those things were fully automated. Even if a pilot had managed to eject before the Gears blew up, they would have died in the vacuum outside. As I continued killing off more Gears left and right, I kept one side screen on Hibiki's Gear and noticed all the fighters except the blue one returning to the ship. 

"I'm going for it! No one's going to get in my way now!" 

Kid spoke too soon. Just got mobbed by a quartet of those Gears. Looked like they were doing a fairly effective job of holding him in place, even as he poured more power into the thrusters and stretched one of his Gear's arms toward the main ship. The seam rippled a bit before opening up as he neared. 

Oh, shit! 

"Hibiki! Watch out!" 

Yellow and orange tendrils shot out of the seam and slammed into Hibiki's Gear just as the blue fighter reached him. 

"I can't lose!" 

The explosion nearly blinded me. 

"Well, I guess... our miracle didn't happen..." the Captain's voice filtered through my radio. 

Huh? Miracle? Oh, yeah. I must have reactivated all transmissions when I was talking to Hibiki instead of just using a private link. Oh, well. As for the bastards that'd been swarming me, it's amazing what ion cannons can do if you aim them right. 

"We've got to tell the crew to evacuate." 

I was about to agree with them when I felt some sort of tug at the back of my mind, drawing my eyes back to the now fading explosion. 

"Don't be planning his funeral yet, ladies. I have a feeling he's got one more trick up his sleeve." 

"What do you -?" 

I could just barely hear the Navi-Robot's surprised exclamation over my radio. 

"You feel it too, eh, little guy?" I smirked. "C'mon Hibiki, show us what you've really got." 

Just as I finished speaking, a hand glowing red from sheer heat reached out of the explosion and grabbed a group of the charred tendrils, crushing them easily. A shape moved forward out of the orange fireball, shattering the charred tendrils against its chest plate. As we all watched, the armor cooled off, revealing one of the most beautiful Gears I've ever seen in my life - second to Weltall, of course. If it were standing next to Xenogears, it would easily be a head taller than my own Gear. It was obviously a combination of Hibiki's Gear and the blue fighter. From my angle, I could see the obelisk-like cannons hanging parallel to its back. It had arm blades almost identical to Xenogears' and the lower legs were similar to Weltall's before its transformation. The epaulets spiked straight out to the sides. The torso was similar to Hibiki's Gear, but without the vents and was a bit more decorative. The head had obviously taken a page out of Xenogears' book with the horn, but it was more like a thick sword blade that pointed forward at an angle from the forehead, while the face had Xenogears' eyes set into a face like Hibiki's Gear. 

"What is that? Another secret weapon of the men?" 

"But how?" BC added to the Captain's question. "Is this a real miracle?" 

What? Did they have no faith in me whatsoever?! 

Eh, so what? 

As if on cue, the new Gear flew toward the main system, ignoring the small fighters that tried to get in its way as they bounced off its armor. When it reached the main system, it pried open the seam and flipped the cannons forward onto its shoulders. Green energy began collecting along the spikes before firing *through* the main system in a spectacular light show. Particle cannons, eh? Nice. 

Hibiki must like being caught in explosions. He made no attempt whatsoever to get away from the main system before it exploded! Well, its armor is quite effective. It came out of that explosion without a scratch. 

"Hng?!" I heard over the radio from the Gear. "What the heck is going on here?!" 

Oh please don't tell me he blacked out during that! 

"I just knew Mr. Alien would protect us somehow..." a soft, sleepy female voice sighed over the radio. 

Wait a sec! That came from the Gear! So that's why he freaked out, eh? 

"Is this the proof of my existence?! Huh?" 

Hmmm. Hibiki's Gear almost looked like one of those Vanguards and if Weltall had been upgraded by whatever the hell happened to bring me here, who's to say it couldn't happen to one of those rust buckets? 

"Ladies?" I calmly asked. "What are the names of your fighters?" 

"Dreads. Why?" BC asked in response. 

"Then allow me to introduce you to the Vandread, easily and currently the most powerful weapon ever." 

Yes, the Vandread was far superior to Xenogears, but only because my Gear was only operating at twenty-five percent maximum capacity! And if I could figure out how to activate the damned Ether Amplifier! If the blasted thing was removed when Weltall was upgraded... SOMBODY'S GONNA DIE!  
  
+ + + +  
TBC...  
+ + + + 


	3. Chapter 2 Making Adjustments

Disclaimer: See chapter 1.  
  
  
" " Speech  
Thought  
| | Computer vocalization  
- - Telepathy  
* * Action sounds or emphasis  
( ) Author's notes  
  
  
Xenodread  
Chapter 2 – Making Adjustments  
By Raiu Kusanagi  
  
  


* * *

  


Fei sighed happily as he hopped down from Xenogears' cockpit and landed lightly on the plating before the Gear. He noticed that the Vandread was about to land when it transformed back into a Dread. Once it had settled to the ground, Hibiki's Vanguard emerged from a hole on the Dread's back, which closed as soon as the Vanguard touched the ground. Fei raised his arms over his head and stretched, generating a series of popping noises that ran up his spine. 

"Oh yeah. Now that fight was a nice stress reliever." 

Before Fei could move, he felt someone's fist press against his back. Fei recognized the general shape of the ring on that person's index finger and raised his hands so that his arms made ninety degree angles with his hands straight up. 

"Let me guess. Back to my cell, right?" 

"Actually, no." Meia's voice answered. "The Captain wishes to speak with you. Now move." 

"Okay, okay." Fei chuckled when Meia pressed her ring deeper into his back. "I'll go. But..." 

Meia tensed slightly, waiting for an attack. 

"Not until I finish tweaking Xenogears!" Fei finished in a singsong tone as he leapt ten feet into the air and backflipped over Meia. 

The blue-haired pilot spun around to see Fei in mid-air, seemingly flying toward Xenogears. 

How did he move so fast?! And is he *flying*?! 

Fei's trajectory started to drop slightly as he approached his Gear. Once he reached it, his hand flashed out and grabbed onto the still open hatch. 

"Xenogears, open all access panels in the torso." 

Damn glad I ran that diagnostics scan on the way back. Now I just need to figure out what that black box is and how to get to it. 

Fei released the hatch and spun around, quickly grabbing onto it again and flipping up to the top of it. He glanced down at Meia to see her still staring at him in shock. 

"You really shouldn't keep staring like that!" Fei called down to her. "Didn't your mother ever tell you your face could get stuck doing that?" 

Meia shook off her shock and growled angrily at Fei. She quickly aimed and fired her laser-ring at the redhead. 

"Whoa!" Fei yelped as he dodged the laser. "What are you aiming at?" Fei pointed at his chest. "Here! If you're gonna try and kill me, then shoot me here! Ya bloody idiot." 

I have no bloody clue why I said that, but damn, it felt good. 

Before Meia could fire again, Fei dropped off Xenogears' shoulder to fall behind it. Meia waited for him to land, but it quickly became obvious he wasn't going to. Walking around to the rear of the machine, Meia saw a circular hole cut into the back of the Gear where the base of the spine would be on a human. As she gazed up at the hole, she could hear various clanking noises and a lot of swearing. 

After a few moments, the clanking and swearing stopped only to be replaced by scraping and grunting. Without warning, a piece of machinery the size of a human torso fell out of the hole. Meia leapt out of the way and landed hard on her rear when she bumped into Xenogears' heel & tripped. The chunk of machinery slammed into the ground and bounced a few times before coming to a stop near the Gear's other foot. The noise attracted the attention of everyone else in the hanger. 

"Close and seal all access panels!" Fei yelled at Xenogears as he landed lightly next to the machinery part. 

The man then sat down next to the part and began examining it, looking for some way to open it. 

"Ah! Here we go!" 

Fei stared down at the keypad for a moment before punching in a series of numbers. A negative sounding beep emanated from the pad. Fei frowned and punched in another set of numbers. Another beep. His frown deepened to a scowl as he punched in a third set of numbers. 

A third beep. 

"Fine then. You had your chance, you little pile of -" 

Fei was cut off by Meia's laser-ring pressing against the back of his head. 

"You're coming with me." 

"Oh, really?" Fei smirked, then sighed. "Look, just let me finish figuring out what this thing does and then rebuild an Ether Amplifier for my Gear. *Then* I'll go speak with the Captain. I promise." 

"Your word doesn't mean much around here." 

"Fine." Fei all but snarled. "I'll go see the Captain. *However*, I *will* be back to work on Xenogears with or without permission." 

"Not likely." Meia snorted. "You are our prisoner, after all." 

Fei shoved himself to his feet and looked at Meia for a moment when she made no move to put the restraints on him. 

"What? No restraints?" 

"According to the Captain, you've shown that they are useless on you. But I doubt the same could be said for a laser at close range." 

"That's what you think." 

The man turned and stalked toward the exit, Meia trailing after him. As he reached it, he barked out one final statement. 

"Xenogears, make sure no one even comes near that part until I get back!" 

"Affirmative," a metallic monotone sounded from the giant robot, startling most of the engineers present. 

After Fei had been gone for several minutes, one of the engineers got up enough courage to try and check out the machine part between the Gear's feet. Before she got within twenty feet of it, Xenogears' hand slammed down on top of her, the palm stopping mere inches abover her head, the fingers forming a psuedo-cage around her. 

The engineer looked up, eeped, and slipped between two of the fingers, running back toward her fellow workers. 

"Orders were given. Orders will be followed." 

Despite, or perhaps because of, the Gear's monotone voice, a shiver ran down everyone's spine when they heard those words.  
  
+ + + +  
  


Fei stalked into the room Meia had led him to and slumped down into a chair next to Magno. Meia walked over to sit on the other side of the round table in the room from Fei. 

"Well, aren't you chipper," Magno quipped when she saw Fei's expression. 

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Whaddaya want? I was right in the middle of trying to crack open a black box I found in Xenogears." 

"Black box?" BC asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Engineering term for an unidentifiable or seemingly indestructable object within a machine, vehicle, or ship." Fei explained. "The term is left vague for a reason. Anything a diagnostic scan can't penetrate the shell of is tentatively termed a black box. If it can't be cracked open physically, the term is confirmed. Generally, if they don't really do anything that you can see, black boxes are left alone. However, if they're suspected to be causing problems in a machine's performance, they're removed and cracked open. If they can't be easily cracked open, they're generally tossed aside for later examination." 

"I see," BC stated, not having expected a small lecture. 

"Once more: what do you want?" 

"I'd like you to sit in on this meeting, first. Then we've got some questions for you." 

"Fine..." Fei sighed, before following Magno's gaze and turning toward BC. 

Seeing that she had at least his partial attention, BC began. 

"Our ship has been completely swallowed up. The bridge, residential quarters, and the engine room have been engulfed by the crystals. Fortunately, the Dread platform and the Reg system suffered no damage. We're in the middle of cleaning up and installing the new database. The spread of Peacsis Pragma seems to have finally reached it's peak. The bridge has stopped sliding and is currently situated just outside the ship's garden. All changes to the ship have apparently ceased for now. Your report, Meia?" 

"Thank you, Buzam." Meia said, then turned to the Captain. "The three Dreads that were swallowed up and transformed by the Peacsis Pragma no longer fit in any of our standard platforms. We've modified the cargo bay on the men's side and are storing them there. When making those modifications, we discovered that this ship hasn't been used for quite a long time. The circuits and cables are decayed and useless." 

"The main problem is our current location." Buzam said, taking over. "It's hard to believe, but we're a long way from Mejele. In fact -" 

"Wait." Fei cut in. "Mejele?" 

"Yes, what about it?" 

"What is it?" 

The three women stared at Fei for a moment before one of them answered. 

"You don't know?" BC asked. 

"Nope. Never heard of it before in my life." 

"But, how -" Meia started, only to be cut off. 

"Mejele is our home, young man. Just as Tarak is yours. How could you not know that?" 

"Tarak?" Fei thought for a moment. "Sorry, don't know that one either. What is it? And I'd appreciate it if you were to call me Fei. Fei Fong Wong is my name, after all." 

The three women spent a moment staring at him incredulously before BC started typing something at the console in front of her. Moments later, a long series of symbols Fei couldn't recognize began scrolling up the holo-screen between the four of them. 

"What does that say?" 

"How the hell should I know? I've never seen it be... wait a sec." Fei cut himself off and leaned forward. "I just recognized a word in there. There's a couple more, actually. Let's see... town... war... water... that's all." 

BC typed in another command and gestured toward the screen. 

"And this?" 

"Hmmm... gimme a sec... river... house... pirates... women... health... gibberish... gibberish... gibberish. GAH! I feel like I'm reading Gear programming code for the first time again!" 

"How could you decipher those words and yet not understand anything else?" Meia demanded, leaning forward. 

"Actually, I was sorta guessing about most of those." Fei replied calmly. "They looked similar to words I've seen written before, but not enough to be certain." 

"Well, since you seem to be ignorant of some of the most simple facts of life here..." Magno said, ignoring Fei's scowl. "Let me give you some basic information. 

"Mejele is the homeworld of the women and Tarak the men. We've been at war for three generations now." 

Hmmm. They gotta be pulling my leg. Eh, might as well play along for now 

"Damn." Fei whistled. "That must make for some cold, lonely nights. Wait a sec. If that's true, how the hell do you have kids?" 

"I'm not completely sure on the methods used by the men," Magno began, "but us women reproduce internally." 

"Pregnancy. Yeah, I know about that. That's how I was born. Isn't everyone?" 

"You were born the same way we are?" BC asked. 

"Yeah. My mother and father had sex one night, got lucky, and nine months later, I popped out." 

"Father?" Meia inquired. 

"The male parent. Duh." 

"How could you have had both a male and a female parent?!" Meia demanded, standing up. 

"Simple. Where I'm from, that's the only way children can be concieved without massive expeditures of resources that are mostly wasted." 

"I see..." Magno mused. "Well, right now the meeting is more important. Please continue, BC." 

"As I was saying, we're a long way from Mejele." Buzam stated, a hologram of the surrounding area forming between the four, which soon shifted to a view of the path they would follow back to Mejele. "In fact, we're in a completely different nebula." 

"Um... I think I'm about to make a complete ass of myself, but... just how serious are you about men and women living on two different worlds and being at war for three generations?" 

"It's common knowledge on both planets, young man," Magno stated with complete sincerity. 

Fei studied her face for a moment before slumping down in his seat. 

"Aw, crap. Look, I'm sorry for not believing you, but I seriously thought you were just bullshitting me about that stuff. Back home, interaction between men and women is so common it's considered normal and has been for ten thousand years." 

Meia and Buzam stared at Fei in shock while the Captain merely chuckled. 

"My, this must be quite strange to you, then. But you seem to be taking it quite well." 

"I - come to think of it, I have been acting a lot differently than I used to." 

"And you're just now realizing it?" Buzam inquired. 

"Hey, gimme a break. This is the first time I've had a chance to think about it since I got here. As for how I'm acting now... Hmmm. I think I'm a fusion of my former personalities." 

"'Former personalities'?" Magno parroted. 

"The less said about them, the better." Fei shuddered. "Trust me. I'll talk about anything else... just, not them. Please." 

Magno studied Fei much the same as he had earlier. 

"Alright. We'll respect your privacy on that matter. Now, if we could get back to the meeting?" 

"Sorry," Fei stated sheepishly. 

"Don't worry about it, young man. We all have our secrets. Continue, BC." 

"Yes. It will take approximately 270 days to return to Mejele." 

"What did we do to deserve being swept across the galaxy?" Magno asked no one in particular as she fanned herself with a small hand fan. 

"And? Any word about our enemy?" 

"Yes." Meia answered, then looked slightly embarrassed as she continued. "My team is understaffed, so I sent some volunteers to investigate the site." 

She's kinda cute when she's embarrassed... Fei mused. 

"Volunteers?" the Captain asked. "Who?" 

"Dita and Ms. Gasco should be on their way now." 

Magno and Buzam both gave sighs of resignation at that. 

"Who?" Fei asked in confusion. 

"Dita is the pilot of the Dread that combined with your friend's Vanguard earlier and Ms. Gascogne is the chief of Reg central, the supply depot of the ship." 

"Okay..." Fei replied, then sniffed a couple times and made a face. "Is there anywhere I can take a shower? I haven't had one in the past two days and I worked up a pretty good sweat in that fight earlier. But if there are still questions I need to answer, I can wait." 

Meia smirked as she thought of something. 

"I know just the place, if it's alright with you, Captain." Meia waited for the Captain's nod before turning to Fei. "Follow me."  
  
+ + + +  
  


"I don't need to take these off too, do I? Because I'm not if you're going to be watching me." 

Fei was standing there in his boxers, waiting for Meia to answer. Meia had been studying him surreptitiously as he stripped down to his boxers. 

Hmmm. He certainly doesn't look like he's all that powerful. But... I wonder if those muscles are really as hard as they look... what the?! What in the world am I thinking?! 

Meia shook her head slightly to clear it and focused on Fei's face. 

"No, that will be fine. Just go through the door and you'll be set to go." 

Inwardly, Meia was grinning evilly at the thought of repaying the man for showing her up in the cargo bay earlier. Fei looked at her briefly before shrugging and walking through the door. Once through the door, he found himself in an open area with a grated floor. Bart and Duero were standing there in only their underwear and restraints, facing Fei's right. Hibiki, dressed the same as Bart Duero, stepped through the door on the other side of the small area a moment later and looked to his left. 

"Uh, what are you guys looking at?" 

Without waiting for an answer, Fei turned to his right... 

"What in the?" 

... and got hit in the face with a stream of freezing cold water. 

"GYAAAAAAH! Holy Mother of Nisan, that's COLD!" 

The water cut off after a few seconds, leaving the four men shivering as the temperature of the water was adjusted. Wiping the wet hair out of his eyes, Fei spotted Meia walking away from the controls that the hoses were connected to. 

Ooooh, you little... I will get you back for this, Fei thought as his eyes narrowed. 

Before he could think of anything else, the four women in control of the hoses blasted the men again, this time with luke warm water. Fei sighed and started scrubbing himself as best he could, given the circumstances. 

Back in the meeting room, Magno chuckled as she watched Fei glare at Meia's back. 

"I do believe I smell the beginnings of a rivalry between those two. And these are the only men left, is that right?" 

"We'll have to depend upon them until we fully understand all the systems on this ship. But I doubt that Fei will be as useful as the other three. If his claims are true, he is as ignorant about the ship's systems as we are." 

"True. I've never seen anything like it before. It was as if the ship had a will of its own. Very unnerving."  
  
+ + + +  
  


"It was so unnerving!" Bart stated from where he was sitting - now fully clothed and with restraints - on one of the crates in the mens' cell. "My comrades were falling one after another, and before long, I was the only one left. The one thought on my mind was -" 

"How the hell you were going to smooth-talk your way out of it without getting your ass handed to you on a silver platter?" Fei asked. 

Bart scowled at him before continuing, ignoring Hibiki's snickering. 

"No, it was how close I was to death. But I persevered because I knew it was my duty as a soldier to live on and retake the ship from the women no matter the odds! And now fate has provided me with three allies. What do you say..." 

Fei had started tuning Bart out the moment the word fate was mentioned while Hibiki kept listening for a few more seconds before following suit. 

This stinks! The teen silently mused. I thought I changed my life. But look how things ended up. Still, what the heck - 

"- happened back there?" Bart asked, unknowingly finishing Hibiki's mental question as he stood up. 

"Hm?" 

"Who made that Vanguard and why did it combine with a Mejelian fighter?" 

"How should I know?" Hibiki snapped, sitting up straight. "But forget about that -" 

"I think I might be able to provide a theory on that." 

The other three men looked over at where Fei was lounging on top of the crates at the back of the room. 

"First, I'd like to ask a question. Hibiki, did you ever see your Vanguard before it became a Gear?" 

"Yeah. I scratched a symbol into one of the parts before the Ikazuchi launched. When I saw the symbol on the Vanguard just before I went out to fight in it, I knew that it was the same one." 

"Thought so. I have reason to believe that Hibiki's Gear was a regular Vanguard before - let's call it... "The Event" since I have no clue what happened and I haven't had a chance to ask anyone else yet - and that it was somehow upgraded about the same time Weltall was upgraded into Xenogears. I've heard that there were three Dreads still on the Ikazuchi when The Event happened. Most likely, those three fighters were upgraded with Weltall and Hibiki's Vanguard. Due to the upgrades coming from the same source, the three Dreads and Hibiki's Vanguard were somehow made into links of the same system, allowing them to combine into a more powerful form." 

"Interesting theory," Duero commented, "but you left out one thing." 

"What's that?" Fei asked, rasing an eyebrow. 

"You neglected to mention the possibility that your 'Xenogears', as you call it, might be capable of combining with the Dreads or even Hibiki's Vanguard." 

"I doubt it," Fei yawned. 

"Why's that?" 

"When I had Xenogears run a diagnostics scan, it showed that its systems were only running at 25% of their maximum capacity." Fei replied. "Despite that, Xenogears is about as powerful as Weltall was, not counting the Ether Amplifier. With that, Weltall could have kicked Xenogears' ass up and down the length of the ship. Once I manage to get it running at full power and figure out how to work the Ether Amplifier or go through the effort of building one from scratch - which is an absolute last resort; I'd almost rather pilot it without the Amp before having to build another from scratch - I figure it'll be about twenty to thirty percent more powerful than the Vandread. Without the Amp, it'd probably be about ten percent weaker than the Vandread. I seriously doubt whatever upgraded the Gears and the Dreads would have a reason to make anything more powerful than that." 

"How can you be so sure of your estimates?" Duero asked in honest curiosity. "And what is an Ether Amplifier?" 

"Because I designed and built Weltall by myself. Xenogears may be more powerful than Weltall, but it's got the same basic system layout. But there are a couple things I'm curious about on Xenogears. When I ran the diagnostics scan, it came up showing that a bunch of crystals about the size of my fist had been implanted throughout the Gear. The other thing is that black box I found. From what I could see, it served no purpose whatsoever and was only there to take up space. Funny thing is, it had a keypad on it, as if it could be opened by typing in the correct passcode. As for the Ether Amplifier, it's a device that channels the energy your body generates into the Gear and amplifies it based on the size difference between a human and an average sized Gear. Some are more efficient or powerful than others, but those ones are rare." 

"Yes, well, that's all fine and good, but it doesn't get us out of here." Bart whined before turning to Duero. "What do you say? With my superior speaking ability and your brains, we won't have any trouble dealing with those women!" 

"Can you repeat that, please?" BC's voice asked from directly behind Bart, causing the blonde coward to jerk in surprise and turn around to see BC standing before him, two large guards standing behind her. 

"Busted..." Fei chuckled, laying his head back on the crates. 

"Oh, uh. We were just sorta joking around." 

"Really? I'd like to hear your jokes. You'll come with me won't you?" 

"Heh heh." Bart laughed nervously. "I'd be happy to, as long as it's of a social nature." 

BC deactivated the laser bars and motioned Bart out. Just as she was about to reactivate the bars, Fei stopped her. 

"Hold up." Fei said, jumping off the crates. "I want to go with you. I completely forgot about Emeralda." 

Fei slapped the control panel as he left the cell, reactivating the bars and ignoring Hibiki's squacked protests. 

"I see. However, I can't let you just roam around whenever you want, you realize." 

"Who said anything about roaming? I'll be going with you." 

"That wasn't the point." BC sighed. "You're still a prisoner. You can't be let out of your cell without the Captain's permission." 

"So call her up and get permission for it," Fei replied, undaunted. 

"BC!" Magno's voice exclaimed over the radio at Buzam's hip. "Get up here quick! That woman we found with the man is awake! And she's not very happy at the moment!" 

"Where is Kim?!" A second voice snarled in the background. 

BC turned to stare at Fei when she heard him chuckling. 

"Now you have a reason to take me along." 

"And why is that?" 

"She's looking for me." Fei answered, then explained. "Apparently, I look almost exactly like the guy that built her, so she latched onto me as a father figure and keeps calling me Kim. I guess that was her creator's name." 

"Fine, you can come along. Then you can explain everything in detail. And bring him as well!" The last was directed at the guards when she saw Bart start to back away slowly. 

"They can catch up later." Fei stated, picking Buzam up with one arm under her knees and one supporting her back. "Just give me directions!" 

With that, the Gear pilot took off running at an inhuman speed, BC's surprised yelp quickly fading into the distance. Once Buzam overcame her surprise, she saw that they were at an intersection. 

"Huh?" 

"I said to give me directions. I don't exactly know my way around the ship all that well yet." 

"Fine. Go right here, the turn left at the third intersection..." 

The woman's voice faded as Fei took off once more. Less than a minute later, they had reached Magno's quarters. Fei set Buzam on the ground and waited for her to open the door. As the door hissed open, Fei suddenly shoved BC to the side and leaned backwards. 

*SHUNK* 

Fei watched as his bangs hung in mid air for an impossibly long moment, then fell to the ground behind him. Standing up straight and stepping, he brushed his fingers across his forehead at the hairline. 

"Well..." Fei nervously began. "At least they won't be getting in the way anymore." 

Buzam pulled herself to her feet to see a sword blade imbedded in the door frame. Stepping forward to see who was holding the weapon, she saw that instead of a hilt being held by a hand, the blade merged seamlessly with a tanned arm, replacing the hand. The woman slowed her approach and saw the woman they'd found with Fei when they first found him. The emerald-haired woman's eyes were extremely wide and locked onto Fei. 

"Emeralda," Fei began, squeezing his eyes shut, "do you have any idea how close you came to killing someone just now?" 

"But I missed you!" Emeralda replied hopefully, pulling her sword arm out of the door frame. 

The other two women gasped in shock when the blade seemed to melt, shrink, and then reform into a hand, which Emeralda flexed a couple of times. 

"That doesn't matter. What if it had been someone who wasn't as fast as I am? And don't forget how close you came to actually hitting me." 

"Um... oopsie?" 

"Yes, oopsie. Now, I want you to apologize to the Captain and later, you and I are going to have a nice long talk about the use of excessive lethal force toward people of unknown allegiance." 

"Yes, Kim," Emeralda responded, turning to Magno and bowing. 

Once the woman had turned, Fei released a quiet sigh and experienced a full body shudder. Buzam raised an eyebrow questioningly when Fei glanced at her. 

"That is easily the closest I have ever come to being killed by an ally," Fei whispered to the commander, before returning his attention to Emeralda. 

"- and I humbly beg your forgiveness, Captain," Emeralda finished, straightening. 

"Well, you needn't have gone that far, young one." Magno chuckled. "I'm just glad no one was hurt." 

And that I didn't have a heart attack from it! 

Emeralda turned back to Fei, whose eyes bugged out upon realizing something. 

"How'd you go from twelve-years-old to eighteen in one day?" 

Indeed, Emeralda had undergone a tranformation of her own, though nowhere near as extreme as that of Weltall into Xenogears or Hibiki's Vanguard. Instead, Emeralda had aged six years and gained a couple feet in height, now standing nearly as tall as Fei, who had gained nearly five inches in height upon his arrival on the ship, putting him at six feet tall. 

"Probably the same way your hair turned red and your eyes turned purple." 

"Purple eyes? Y'know, I never thought someone could become jaded toward surprises in under a day, but I just proved myself wrong. Ah, ta hell with it. I'm going back to my cell and getting some sleep. I've earned it, damn it!" 

"You still have some questions to answer, young man." Magno stopped him as he started heading toward down the hall. "I may have gotten sidetracked before, but this is the perfect opportunity for it. And you said you'd tell us everything you knew if we let you fight." 

Fei froze in midstep and hung his head. 

"Oh, yeah. I did say that, didn't I? Damn. So whaddaya wanna know?" 

"Let's go to the bridge first. I have business to attend to there. That way we can kill two birds with one stone, hm?" 

"Alright, fine. Emeralda, grab the Captain and follow me." 

Without waiting for a response, Fei picked Buzam up again and started running back the way he came. Emeralda shrugged, picked up Magno the same way, and took off after Fei, ignoring the Captain's surprised yelp. With Buzam giving Fei directions again, the quartet made it to the bridge in record time. The two Gear pilots came to a near-screeching halt when they entered the bridge. 

"Nice place." Fei whistled, setting Buzam on her feet as Emeralda did the same with the Captain. "This makes the technology level of the Yggdrasil look like a child's toy." 

"The Yggdrasil?" Magno asked, trying to get her heart under control again. "What's that?" 

"Something that's thought to be the cutting edge of warship technology where we're from." Fei answered, noticing the Navi-Robot approaching the Captain. "But this... this totally blows everything our world has out of the water. If this thing has any weapons, you could probably conquer the entire planet. Unless they brought out the Gears. Then you'd probably have some trouble." 

"And why would that be?" 

"Heh, heh." Fei chuckled. "You ever try hitting something that has a flight speed of several thousand miles an hour with a ship's guns? Can't be done. One time, I had to go up against over a dozen sand cruisers *plus* that country's flag ship. They had artillery fire, mines, you name it, they had it flying at me. Bastards never even touched me. And, at the time, I was using a Gear that was only a bit faster than average." 

Before Fei could add to that, a door hissed open behind the group, prompting them to turn around. Bart was dragged through the door by the two guards that had accompanied Buzam to the men's cell. 

"Captain," one said upon seeing the old woman, "are you alright? We overheard you on the commander's radio." 

"I'm fine." Magno replied, walking over to and sitting down in her chair. "It was just a simple misunderstanding, that's all." 

"Thank you for escorting the male here." BC said. "You are dismissed." 

The two guards nodded and left. Bart straightened and faced the Captain. 

"Hello, there. I hear that there's something you want from me?" 

"Yes." Magno replied, then pointed to the control well. "That thing. We haven't been able to operate it, so tell us how you did it." 

"Of course." Bart said, smiling confidently for some reason. "I guess I'd better. Given the circumstances I have no choice." 

Bart stretched his restraints and let the clack together a couple of times, looking out of the corner of his eye at BC. The woman gave an exasperated expression and tapped the remote, unlocking the restraints. 

"Now try and listen closely -" 

Fei tuned Bart out and turned to Emeralda. 

"Y'know, I don't have a damned clue why I'm even here. They say they have questions for me, then push me off to the side when something else comes along. Talk about being a major ego-killer. Wouldn't be surprised if they tossed me back in the cell and forgot about me." 

Emeralda giggled slightly before the two returned their attention to Bart. 

"- In fact, I suppose you could say I'm an indispensable - huh? Ergh-ya- ah!" 

Without warning, the control well sucked Bart back in. Fei blinked, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. 

"I really don't understand this system at all," the Captain complained. 

"Am I seeing things or did some sorta green, goo-like energy rise up outta there and suck him in?" Fei commented. "Because if I'm seeing things I'm going back to my cell, passing out, and not waking up for the next few days." 

"Don't worry, young man. It did that once before, so you're in no trouble of going insane any time soon." 

Suddenly, the ship took off, nearly knocking everyone to the ground. All over the ship, other crew members weren't as fortunate. 

"What's going on?!" Magno demanded. 

"The system just booted up, Captain!" Belvedere Coco, the blonde bridge crewwoman, responded. 

"Projecting current desination!" Amarone Slaintheav, the black woman on the bridge crew, added. 

"What in blazes did you do in there?!" the Captain yelled, activating a holo-screen that was linked to the control well. 

"Now just hold on a minute!" 

Bart started looking around wildly, trying to figure out what was going on. 

"Ms. Gasco." Another of the bridge crew, a brunette by the name of Ezra Vieil, said, trying to contact the "volunteers". "Dita! If you can hear me please respond!" 

Buzam walked forward, glancing at Ezra as she passed the woman. However, due to the angle she passed by Ezra at, she was unable to see the sweat glistening on Ezra's face or that her breathing was starting to become shallow. 

"Release the markers!" 

"Roger," Belvedere answered. 

"Ms. Gasco!" Ezra gasped, slumping forward onto her console. 

"Huh? Ezra!" BC gasped, turning to look at the woman. "What's wrong?"  
  
+ + + +  
  


Hibiki was once again in the sea of green light. 

"Who the hell are you?!" he yelled. "What are you trying to get me to do?! And what is that huge robot anyway?! This all part of your plan?! What do you want from me?!" 

Further questioning was cut off when four bolts of electricity slammed into Hibiki simultaneously, causing him to scream in pain. When that cleared, he started reliving a memory of his grandfather telling him to go to the city to meet people and make friends, so he could learn more about himself. When the memory was over, he slowly came awake. 

"Grandpa..." 

His eyes opened to see Duero's face right in front of his own with his one visible eye closed. 

"Huh?" Hibiki grunted before pushing the doctor away. "Wh-what the hell do you think you're doing?!" 

"I was checking your temperature, that's all." 

"I-I'm alright, doc. There's nothing wrong with me." 

"Except that you were mumbling in your sleep. Who's grandpa?" 

"Grandpa's just grandpa. He's nobody special. He's the one who raised me ever since I was little." 

"Peculiar. I find it rather hard to believe that one of the first generation would be in contact with you." 

"That's all well and good, Duero," Fei's voice commented from the other side of the laser bars, "but we've got more important things to worry about right now." 

The two men in the cell turned to see Fei, Emeralda, and Buzam standing outside the cell. 

"Duero, is it?" Buzam asked. "It's your turn to come with us, if you aren't too busy, of course." 

"Hm," Duero nodded. 

Buzam opened the cell and ushered the doctor out. Once she had reactivated the bars, the quartet walked off, leaving Hibiki to himself and his thoughts. 

Just why is that guy so eager to help women? Ah, I don't think I'll ever understand it.  
  
+ + + +  
  


After leaving Buzam and Duero at the infirmary, Fei and Emeralda returned to the bridge. 

"Scanners are picking up a nebula straight ahead of us." 

"We can't regain control of the ship!" 

"It's just one problem after another," Magno complained. 

The malfunction in the cooling systems had caused the temperature to skyrocket up to 82 degrees in the bridge and higher in other parts of the ship. Magno had pulled back her hood, revealing a cap that covered her hair & ears and seemed to attach to her clothing underneath the robes. She had a clear icepack on her head and a fan that was attached to her console blowing cool air in her face. 

"This is Meia." The Dread commander stated as a holo-screen with her face appeared, overlapping Bart's screen. "The platform's offline. We're unable to retrieve Dita and the others." 

"Jura and I have been trapped in this elevator for hours!" A woman with dark green hair named Barnette Orangello complained on another screen. 

Both her face and Jura's were nearly pressed up against the screen. 

"Someone help us!" Jura added. 

In the control well, Bart zoomed in on the nebula to see large chunks of ice flying around erratically. 

"AAAH! We're headed straight into that?! How do I stop this thing?! Hold on! YAAAAAAAHHHH!!" 

Back on the bridge, Emeralda glanced at the third screen, then turned to the Captain. 

"Captain, do you have the location of the two women on that third screen?" 

"Yes, why?" 

"Could you show me a map of how to get there from here?" 

"Certainly. But why?" 

"Well, I want to make myself useful." Emeralda answered, then smiled slightly. "Besides, it'll give you some time to finally ask Kim those questions he mentioned you wanted answered." 

Magno looked embarrassed at that and sighed. 

"Yes, well, the questions just haven't been as high a priority as some other things that have come up." 

"Figured as much." Fei mumbled, then raised his voice. "And Emeralda, could you call me Fei. It won't cause any confusion, then." 

"So, the map?" Emeralda prompted after nodding to Fei. 

"Oh, yes. Here you go." 

Emeralda looked down at the console, then pressed her hand against it, causing the screen to flicker slightly. 

"What the?" 

"Don't worry." Emeralda smiled to assure the Captain. "I've got it memorized now. I'll be back in a few minutes." 

With that, Emeralda left the bridge and ran off down the hallway. 

"So," Fei began, "what were those questions you wanted to ask me?"  
  
+ + + +  
  


Emeralda reached the stuck elevator and evaluated the situation. A huge number of personal belongings were piled up on the elevator. The green-haired Gear pilot saw two pairs of feet sticking out from under the pile. On top of the pile were a pair of large chunks of Peacsis crystal, situated so that, while they were both pinning the personal belongings, they were also supporting each other, being wedged against one another between a wall on one side and a large pillar of Peacsis on the other. 

Emeralda's evaluation was: 

"This is gonna be tricky." 

The women pinned under the pile heard her voice and responded. 

"Who's there?" 

"Can you help us please?" 

"Just give me a few moments and I'll see what I can do," Emeralda answered. 

She examined the situation again to see if anything new came to her. 

"Hmmm. Might as well try it." Emeralda raised her hands into the air and pointed them at the Peacsis pinning the women. "THERMO GEIST!" 

Emeralda blinked in surprise when nothing happened, then waited a few moments. When it became obvious nothing was going to happen, she reacted the same way most people would in her situation. 

"Damn it!"  
  
+ + + +  
  


"What was that thing you spit up, then smashed back in the interrogation room?" Magno asked. 

Fei leaned against the low wall surrounding the Captain's console before answering. 

"That was a parasite called the Contact. I was it's fourth host in the ten thousand years since it's birth. It's similar in a lot of ways to another parasite I know named Miang, but much more subtle. While Miang is a being composed of energy and is almost impossible to kill, the Contact... well, you saw what it looked like and what I did to it. Where Miang completely subverts the mind of her host body and takes complete control over it, including the memories of that host, the Contact simply feeds false emotions and feelings into the host, attempting to force it to conform to what it considers the ideal host." 

"And just how did you come to know all that?" 

"I've seen Miang's work first-hand." Fei answered, clenching a fist "She possessed my mother when I was only three-years-old and proceeded to torture me for the next five years, simply because she detected the Contact within me. As for the Contact, I think I blacked out for a brief time while my body was expelling the parasite. I heard it ranting maniacally in the back of my mind. It and the Anti-Type - the female version of the Contact - were supposed to have their hosts mate and produce an offspring. The two parasites would then kill their hosts and take over the child, merging with each other in the process. The combined being would then merge with a creature known as Deus that was hidden in a sunken spaceship on my planet and become like a god." 

"That's quite interesting." Magno mused. "But if so, then why hadn't it done so sooner." 

"From what I could understand of the Contact's ranting, only certain people could be possessed and even then, they had to be in the same generation. Their first hosts had too much of a mother-son relationship to even consider trying it. The second set of hosts lived in a time when infertility was almost like a plague. The Anti-Type's third host sacrificed herself before anything could happen between the two hosts. As for me, I was forced to watch as my girlfriend Elly was stabbed through the heart by an obsessive psycopath. After a brief fight with my former boss, I was pulled here with Emeralda, where I proceeded to puke up the Contact, and then killed it. Does that answer your question?" 

"Yes, it does. But you seem rather calm about losing a loved one." 

Fei sighed and shook his head. 

"That's what's sorta disturbing. I mean, I know now what I felt for her wasn't real. Despite that, I was expecting to still feel her loss, but I'm not. I'm still angry that she died... but... I just don't feel anything for her anymore. Frankly, it's sorta disturbing. I don't like my emotions being toyed with like that." 

"That's quite understandable, young man." 

Just then, a chunk of ice slammed into the top of the ship. 

"Ow!" Bart's voice whined. "Would you raise the shield already?! Please?!" 

"My god, he whines a lot," Fei groaned. 

"True. But he is the only one we have to pilot this ship. Now, on to my next question. Just what in the world is that woman you were found with?" 

"You mean Emeralda?" At Magno's nod, Fei continued. "Her name is Emeralda Kasim and she was created about four thousand years ago by the Contact's second host, Kim Kasim. That's why she keeps calling me Kim. Each of the Contact and Anti-Type's hosts looked exactly like their first ones. Technically, Emeralda is a colony of nano-machines. However, that's only her physical aspect. Mentally and emotionally, she's human in every way. Because I look like her creator, she thinks of me as being a father to her. Given her current appearance and apparent mindset, I think she may just have to change her perspective of me somewhat." 

"Fei?" Emeralda's voice asked as a holo-screen with her face on it appeared. 

"Yeah?" Fei asked, turning toward the screen. 

"Um... I have a bit of a problem." 

"Yes?" 

"I... can't use my Ether abilities." 

"What?" 

"I said –" 

"No. I heard you." Fei cut her off. "What do you mean you can't use them?" 

"I've been trying for over a minute and nothing is happening!" 

"Damn. I assume you were trying to use them to free the two women that are trapped?" Emeralda nodded. "Is there any way you can get them out without your powers?" 

"Yes, but I'll need some help. There are two large chunks of crystal wedged in above them that are pinning them under a pile of stuff. If I move enough of the junk to free them, the crystals will fall and crush them. Same thing will happen if I try to move one of the crystals out of the way. And I don't think I'm strong enough to lift them both at the same time." 

"Damn again. Look, I'll be - just a sec." Fei said before turning to the Captain. "Anymore questions for me?" 

"Yes, but you answered them already." 

"Alright. Emeralda, I'll be down in a minute!" 

Magno watched Fei run out of the bridge and sighed. 

"Youngsters these days. They're just too damn impatient sometimes." 

"Captain, it appears the engines have shut down," Amarone stated. 

"Just when I get the good news that we've stopped, we end up in a nebula." 

Magno sighed again as her fan shut down. 

"Captain!" Another crewwoman said. 

"Hm?" 

"The readings show that a section of the ship is transforming again." 

Outside, crystalline spikes began growing rapidly from the two side arms of the ship.  
  
+ + + +  
  


Fei slowed to a halt next to Emeralda and whistled as he gazed up at the crystals pinning the two women. 

"Those are some pretty big rocks. Let's get to work. You grab the one on the left and I'll grab the one on the right." 

"Then what?" 

"We see who can toss their rock the farthest," Fei smirked. 

The two quickly got into position and placed their hands on the Peacsis, having to crouch down to get into position. 

"On the count of three, lift." Fei stated. "Three." 

The two Gear pilots pushed up on their respective crystals, but got no reaction. They kept pushing until they heard a grinding sound and small shards of crystal began falling on them. 

"Just a little... more," Fei grunted. 

Straining, the two managed to lift the crystals into the air and tossed them to the side, where they fell to the ground below. 

"Damn, those things were heavy," Fei commented as they watched the crystals fall. 

"Let's get this junk cleared off them," Emeralda added. 

"Hey!" and indignant voice called out from under the pile. "Our stuff is not junk! They're vital necessities!" 

"Uh-huh." Fei quirked an eyebrow. "Whatever." 

The two fighters began indiscriminantly grabbing stuff and tossing it into the hallway. When they had cleared enough of the belongings away, they could see the two women's faces, one of whom was scowling at Fei. 

"I certainly hope that wasn't my nail polish or lipstick I heard breaking!" Jura all but snarled. 

"You really think you need that junk to make yourself look better?" 

"Yes!" 

"Then you are easily the most vain person I have ever met." 

Fei pulled the shocked Jura out from under the pile as Emeralda did the same for Barnette. 

"Come on, Emeralda," Fei said, running off down the hall fast enough to kick up a slight dust trail. 

"See ya later!" Emeralda called back to the two women as she followed after Fei. 

"What a jerk." Jura grumbled to herself, then looked over at Barnette. "Barnette?" 

Barnette was staring after the two Gear pilots with a wistfull look on her face. 

"Barnette." 

She sighed as Jura continued trying to get her attention. 

"So beautiful..." 

"Barnette!" 

"What an angel..." 

"BARNETTE!!" 

The green-haired woman jumped in surprise and turned toward Jura to see the blonde glaring at her angrily. 

"Wh-what's wrong, Jura?" Barnette asked nervously. 

"I was *trying* to get your attention! Just who were you talking about?" 

"That emerald-haired woman that helped us, of course. Wasn't she just *so* beautiful?" 

A nervous tick developed over Jura's left eye as she stared at Barnette, who barely noticed her friend's anger. 

"Of course, not as beautiful as you, Jura!" She hastily added.  
  
* * * *  
  


"So, where are we going?" Emeralda asked. 

Since they didn't have to be somewhere immediately, Fei and Emeralda were merely jogging instead of running full out. Of course, their idea of jogging would have easily outpaced anyone on the ship during a sprint. 

"Back to the cargo bay. I need to finish readjusting some of the systems so they can operate at full capacity." 

"Okay. I'm gonna go check on Crescens." 

For the first time since learning to walk, Fei tripped over his own feet and fell on his face. Considering the speed he was moving at when he tripped, he didn't just slam into the floor. No, he went rolling along the hallway until he slammed into a wall at a T intersection. Emeralda came running up to him to see him upside down with his shoulders and head pressed against the floor while the rest of his body leaned against the wall and his legs hung over his body. 

"Please tell me you just said you were going to check on Crescens," Fei groaned as he pulled himself to his feet. 

"Uh-huh." 

"Okay, I thought so." Fei said as he started to walk off, only to freeze a moment later. "What the hell do you mean 'you're going to go check on Crescens'?!" 

"I meant what I said." 

"And just how are you going to do that? In case you haven't noticed, Crescens is back home and we are either on the far side of the universe, or in a completely different dimension!" 

"We are?" 

For another first time ever, Fei facefaulted. 

"Yes, we are. So how do you expect to check on Crescens if you can't get to it?!" 

"Oh, Crescens is here with us! I summoned her when I got into the cockpit of Weltall." 

"Geheh. And exactly *why* didn't you tell me this earlier?" 

"You never asked." 

Fei resisted the urge to slam his head against a wall and opted for sighing instead. 

"Fine. Look, you go get Crescens and meet me in the cargo bay, alright? That way we can see if she was upgraded like Weltall, Hibiki's Vanguard, and those three Dreads." 

"Okay. See ya there!" 

Fei sighed wearily as Emeralda took off running down the hall away from him. 

"I think I was just bullshitting myself when I said I was jaded toward surprises. Oh, well. Not much to do about it now."  
  
+ + + +  
  
A few minutes later  
  


"OUCH! Dammit!" 

The cry rang out through the cargo bay, surprising most of the workers there. Moments later, a small twisted piece of metal came flying out of the hole in Xenogears' back and slammed into the wall behind the Gear, getting lodged there from the force of impact. Fei dropped out of the hole and landed lightly on the floor of the new hangar. He had decided to shelve the black box problem until he got Xenogears back up to 100% capacity. 

"Fuck this! Xenogears! Do you have some sort of internal auto-repair system?" 

|Affirmative.| 

"Use it! Once it's done, give me a status readout!" 

|Affirmative.| 

Fei walked over to a workbench he'd set up near Xenogears, grabbed one of the rags on it, and started wiping off some of the oil that had splattered him. A hesitant voice from behind him caught his attention. 

"Um, sir?" 

Fei turned around to see one of the engineers standing before him. She was wearing a pair of oversized glasses and had short brown hair. 

"Yeah?" 

"Um... the commander wants to talk to you..." 

"Oh, joy. Tell her I'm busy working on Xenogears and can't meet with her." 

"Actually, we've got a line patched through to the bridge in here, so you can talk to her over that." 

"Fine," Fei sighed as he tossed the rag aside and followed the girl over to where the holo-screen was set up. 

"Yo, BC, whatcha want?" 

"First off, what the hell are you doing out of your cell?" 

"No one told me to go back and I was planning to work on Xenogears anyway, so I figured I'd head there instead." 

"You're still a prisoner, Mr. Wong. Don't forget that!" 

"Like you're actually giving me a chance to." Fei snorted. "So what else did you want?" 

"When the ship took off, we left Dita and Ms. Gasco behind. I was just at your cell and the male there said to ask you for help. I'd like you to go get them." 

"I don't give a rat's ass what Hibiki said. I can't do a damn thing with Xenogears until I get it back up to full capacity and there's no way in hell you're going to get me to pilot one of the Vanguards. Besides, Hibiki's Gear can combine with that blue Dread, so if you send him, he and the Dread pilot will be better equipped to handle whatever attacks them than I am." 

"I see. We could just order you to go, you know." 

"Yeah, right." Fei snickered. "You'd have to shove me into the cockpit of one of those Vanguards, then drag the damn thing out to where your crew members were left. Both parts of that are equally impossible. First off, I'm strong enough to tear apart a Gear with my bare hands and those Vanguards are sad, shoddy imitations of Gears at best - tearing my way out of one would be so easy. Secondly, I can dodge fire from those laser-rings rather easily, so trying to shoot me won't do a damn bit of good, and I seriously doubt anyone on this ship is strong enough to pin me long enough to get me into one of the Vanguards." 

"Fine, then. I expect you to return to your cell as soon as you're done working on your Vanguard." 

"Xenogears is not a goddamn Vangua - damn, she hung up." Fei growled before turning back to Xenogears. "Yo, Xenogears! You done with the auto-repair yet?" 

|Negative. Approximate remaining time: one hour, fifteen minutes.| 

"Damn..."  
  
+ + + +  
  


"Well, it appears you'll have to go out after all." Buzam told Hibiki as she returned to the cell. "Your friend is unwilling to help us." 

"Well that's a surprise." Hibiki sullenly replied. "I figured he'd be more than eager to help you out." 

"According to him, he comes from a society where daily, friendly interaction between men and women is so common it's been going on for ten thousand years." 

"What?! That's impossible!" 

Buzam sighed and shook her head. 

"I'm beginning to believe that there is no such thing as impossible anymore, merely improbable." 

"Yeah, well, gimme one good reason why I should even care about helping you," Hibiki snidely replied. 

"This is not the time for men and women to be fighting each other." BC stated in a commanding tone. "You saw it didn't you, that unidentified enemy? I thought that you'd be willing to help us, since you were able to defeat them before." 

"Hn," Hibiki grunted, glaring at her. 

"'The strong are supposed to help the weak.' I heard that ideal was common sense in a man's world. But I guess not." 

"Fine!" Hibiki growled, sitting up. "I've already shown you a side of me I probably shouldn't have. But I'm not going to do this again. I'm not gonna give in to your threats anymore!" 

"Oh, am I threatening you?" Buzam asked condescendingly. "It wasn't intended that way." 

If Fei can tolerate them, I guess I might as well try, too.  
  
+ + + +  
  


Fei turned at the screams of surprise from behind him to see a Dread coming in to land in the hangar. 

Hmmm. Didn't see that Dread out in the fight. Must have gotten pulled in for repairs before I got out there. But the paint job reminds me of Crescens. 

The tri-color Dread was shaped similarly to the standard Dreads, but was as large as one of the three transformed Dreads. The thin silver nose resembled a sword blade with a nearly invisible seam along the edge while the emerald wings were almost like two sets of three bird wings that were partially folded against the body. Fei could see how some parts of the Dread's main section would become body armor if it were to merge with Hibiki's Gear like with Dita's Dread. What looked like orange and emerald bucklers were placed on the top and bottom of the Dread. 

The Dread slowed to a stop and settled to the floor. Moments later, the cockpit opened and Emeralda jumped out, landing on the nose only to jump again and land near Fei. 

"Fei! Look at what happened to Crescens!" 

Fei felt a strange urge to fall down and slam face first into the floor. Ignoring it, he turned his attention from the Dread to Emeralda. 

"That's... Crescens?" 

"Yup! Cool isn't it?" 

"N... actually, yeah it is. For a Dread. Is it as strong as it was as a Gear?" 

"Nope. Stronger. Better armor. And since it can't engage in close range combat anymore, it's got a pair of charged particle cannons on each side of the nose. With them being energy weapons, I don't have to worry about running out of ammo, like Billy always does!" 

"True. Think you'll be able to pilot it as well as you did its Gear form?" 

"No problem!" Emeralda chirped happily. "It's got a neural control system." 

"An NCS? What do the controls look like?" 

"A green sphere set on each side of the seat that follows my hand movements." 

"So that's what they're called, eh?" Fei mused. "Cool. Well, we've got a little over an hour until Xenogears is ready for action again. Wanna get in a bit of light sparring?" 

"Sure!" 

The two walked a short distance away from each other, turned toward one another, and slid into combat stances, startling many of the women watching them. On an unknown cue, the two charged forward.  
  
+ + + +  
  


"Aaaaahhhh! No!" Dita Liebely yelled as she tried to outrun the robots chasing her Dread, then jerked as her fighter was nearly hit. "Waah! I really hate aliens who don't know when it's enough!" 

A warning icon appeared on her radar, signalling another bogey approaching her head on. 

"Huh?! From the front, too?" 

An explosion caused by a near miss rocked Dita's Dread, causing the girl to flinch and accidentally fire her weapons. Twin beams of blue energy shot out toward the bogey in front of her. The beams had nearly disappeared in the distance when Dita saw them hit and generate flash of light followed by a fairly large explosion. An object came rushing out of the explosion as Dita opened her eyes. 

"Hn?" 

"Hey, you!" Hibiki's voice growled over the radio. "Is that any way to thank someone who came all the way to get ya?!" 

"The alien!" Dita gasped happily as she urged her Dread forward faster. 

Hibiki's Vangaurd came to a quick stop and started waving its arms and legs frantically. 

"Agh! Gh! Get away!" 

"You came all this way to save me, didn't you? You really are a good alien!" 

"Would you knock that off!" Hibiki cried out as Dita's Dread and his Vanguard started combining. 

One flash of light later, the Vandread was hovering where the two fighters had been. In the cockpit, Dita was looking all around her from her position in Hibiki's lap. 

"Oh, wow! What is this?" 

"Hey! Would you quit movin' around?" Hibiki complained. 

"I want you to know that I believed in you." Dita said, turning her head to look at him. "I knew that no matter what happened, you would come and rescue me!" 

"Hmp!" Hibiki grunted, turning his head slightly away from the girl in his lap. "I didn't come here to rescue you. I... was just looking for you." 

"Well, thank you," Dita replied, smiling at Hibiki. 

I... guess... she isn't so bad, Hibiki silently mused as he turned his gaze toward her after she'd turned around, when she's not going on about that Mr. Alien stuff.  
  
+ + + +  
  


"The ice mass is getting closer!" Amarone called out. 

"No response from the Peacsis!" Belvedere added. "We have no control!" 

"Captain!" A nondescript engineer called out as her face appeared in a holo-screen on the bridge. "One of the men is trying to kill a crew member!" 

"WHAT?! WHO?!" 

"The red-haired man is fighting and trying to kill an green-haired woman in the hangar!" 

"Distance twelve thousand!" Amarone reported. 

"BC! Take Meia and two guard squads down to the hangar! Now! I want you to stop that man at all costs if he's trying to kill one of our crew!" 

"Right!" Buzam nodded as she ran out of the bridge. 

First the nebula, then the ice mass, and now *THIS*! Perhaps you weren't as trustworthy as you seemed, young man.  
  
+ + + +  
  


"Yah!" 

Fei lashed out with a spin kick, which Emeralda ducked and countered with a punch to the stomach. Fei hopped backward to avoid the punch and was caught be surprised when Emeralda launched herself at him and body slammed him into the floor. As the woman tried to follow through with her advantage, Fei curled his legs against his body and unloaded a mule kick into Emeralda's abdomen. The emeral-haired android was sent flying and barely managed to land on her feet. Emeralda quickly stood up and slid into a defensive stance only to see Fei standing where he'd been lying, holding his side and grimacing. 

"That's enough for now, Em. You cracked a rib on that body slam. Ugh." 

"Sorry," Emeralda sheepishly replied. 

"No worries." Fei replied, gesturing with his hand as if to wave off the problem. "Just wasn't expecting you to go that far. When I say light sparring, that usually means no broken bones, okay?" 

"Okay." 

Fei closed his eyes and stilled. After a moment, a white glow formed around the hand holding his side. The glow lasted less than a second and when it was gone, Fei released his side and grinned. 

"There. All better." 

Just then, Buzam, Meia, and the guards they'd brought with them came charging into the hangar. On seeing Fei standing next to an emerald haired woman that had her back turned toward them, they circled around him and aimed their laser-rings at him. Fei and Emeralda tensed slightly in preparation for whatever was about to happen. 

"Uh... what's going on?" Fei asked. 

"We received a report that you were trying to kill one of our crew," Buzam replied. 

"Kill one of your..." Fei trailed off and groaned. "Were you given a description of the crew member I was supposedly 'trying to kill'?" 

"The woman that reported it said you were fighting and trying to kill a green-haired woman." 

"Figured as much. BC, you remember Emeralda, right? And Meia, this is Emeralda Kasim. Emeralda, meet Meia Gisborn, a Dread pilot." 

Emeralda turned around to face the two women and smiled. 

"Hi!" 

"This is the woman you were trying to kill?" Buzam asked in surprise. 

"No. I was sparring with her." 

"Sparring?" Meia asked. "What's that? The men's word for killing women?" 

"Ugh. No. Sparring is non-lethal martial arts practice against a live opponent. Rather useful, really." 

"Non-lethal, hm?" 

"Yup. For instance, the match Emeralda and I just had ended when she cracked one of my ribs." 

"I see." Buzam sighed, lowering her laser-ring. "Then this was all a misunderstanding." 

Meia gaped in shock as she watched BC walk over to the holo-screen. 

"And you believe him?!" 

Buzam ignored the Dread commander and activated the holo-screen, patching into the bridge in the process. 

"Ah, Buzam." Magno's voice filtered over the screen. "I assume you didn't have much trouble?" 

"No. Actually, it was a misunderstanding. Mr. Wong and Emeralda were sparring and the engineer that made the report simply misunderstood the situation." 

"Hmmm. I see. Well, then, tell that young man and the girl that we're sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused them. Oh, by the way. That young man Dita seems to like made it back with her and Gascogne. They used the Vandread to destroy the ice mass before it hit us. I'd like you to return to the bridge so we can go over the data Gascogne brought back." 

"Yes, captain." 

Buzam shut off the holo-screen and turned back toward the group. 

"Stand down, all of you. You're dismissed." 

The guards shared a puzzled glance between each other before saluting Buzam and leaving. Meia was still staring there gaping at Buzam. Fei quirked an eyebrow as he looked at Buzam. 

"Didn't know the captain knew what sparring was." 

"She probably knows more than any of us ever will." BC smirked. "From the stories she's told me, she used to be a fairly decent martial artist herself." 

"Cool." Fei grinned. "I'll have to see if she's got any tricks she could teach me. As good as I am, I could still be a hell of a lot better." 

Meia's mouth snapped shut almost audibly as she turned around and stormed off. 

"What's her problem?" Fei asked. 

"It's rather complicated and I have to return to the bridge now. You'll have to ask either the Captain or Meia herself." 

With that, Buzam left the hangar and made her way back to the bridge. Fei turned back to Xenogears with a thoughtful expression on his face. 

Hmmm... I wonder...  
  
+ + + +  
  


Some time later, Buzam and Magno began a broadcast that was transmitted throughout the ship. Fei walked through the door to the bridge just as the transmission began. 

"The Captain and I have just concluded our meeting." Buzam stated, stepping in front of Magno's console. "We've decided we should inform the entire crew of our current situation. Upon analyzing the data we retrieved from the enemy debris, we have gathered some intelligence on our enemy. I'd like you all to take a look at this image." 

The image of a sphere appeared on the holo-screen. The orange and bluish- purple sphere was covered in a framework of black metal. 

"This is their home planet. We don't know its exact location, but they seem to have quite a lot of firepower." 

That's an understatement, Fei silently added. 

"We are currently in this enemy's territory and they are attacking us because they perceive our presence to be hostile. For this reason, we expect more battles with this enemy to occur along our return course to Mejelian space. We learned something else from the data. Our enemy is about to launch a full- scale operation which calls for the destruction of our home world, Mejele, as well as the male planet, Tarak. Our faceless enemy is for some unknown reason, planning for the complete obliteration of home planets." 

"We are pirates," Magno said, taking over, "and as such, our loyalties are not bound to either Mejele or Tarak. However, it's certainly not in our best interests to allow an unknown force to destroy our potential customers. Therefore, I plan to reach our home system before our enemy does to inform both worlds of this crisis. In order to be successful, we must incorporate the men we have taken prisoner into our crew." 

"Huh?!" Belvedere and Amarone gasped in unison. 

"Heh. So you finally see it my way," Bart stated from where he was lying on his back next to the control well. 

"There are many things we don't understand yet, such as this ship and that large machine. But I'm sure we'll learn more about these one piece at a time as we continue on our journey. I expect the cooperation of the entire crew. That is all." 

Magno breathed a weary sigh only half a second after the transmission was cut off. Fei turned around when he heard the door hiss open and stepped aside to allow Duero and Ezra to pass. Deciding to stay out of the conversation and in the background, Fei waited until the Magno had turned her attention away from everyone else. He walked up to her console and spoke in a low voice. 

"Captain, may I speak with you for a moment? Alone?"  
  
+ + + +  
TBC...  
+ + + +  
  
Author's notes: For those of you wondering about Fei's seemingly bizzare personality, well... it's a secret! Seriously? It'll be explained eventually. Other than that, I'm not giving anything out. And about the change from three to five generations... just accept it, please. I really didn't see any point to writing out the entire first episode just to include that change. 


	4. Chapter 3 Learning Curve

Disclaimer: See chapter 1.  
  
  
" " Speech  
Thought  
| | Computer vocalization  
- - Telepathy  
* * Action sounds or emphasis  
( ) Author's notes  
  
  
Xenodread  
Chapter 3 – Learning Curve  
By Raiu Kusanagi  
  
  


* * *

  


"So what do you want to know?" 

Fei and Magno had returned to the Captain's quarters to talk. Magno was currently sitting at her desk while Fei was leaning against the wall next to the door. 

"I'm just curious as to why Meia seems like she's always angry or completely emotionless. If I'm going to be working with her, I'd like to know a bit more about her." 

"And what makes you think you'll be working with her?" Magno asked in amusement. 

"I'm only good at three things: combat, piloting Gears, and painting. I seriously doubt anything on the ship needs to be painted and me fighting our enemy without Xenogears would just be suicide since most of my fighting techniques are useless in Zero-G unless I'm in a Gear." 

"You have a point, young man. However, I won't tell you the full story. You'll have to get that from Meia herself. What I can tell you, though, is that her ohma -" 

"That's the one that donates the egg, isn't it? Sort of like a father donating sperm to fertilize an egg back in my world." 

"That's exactly it, young man." The Captain smirked mysteriously. "Anyway, Meia's ohma died in an accident when she was only a child. Not long afterward, her fahma sacrificed herself to save Meia. Ever since then, she hasn't allowed anybody or anything to get close to her. That girl insists on punishing herself. She can't *tolerate* making mistakes. She blames it all on her own weaknesses. I remember she used to say to me, 'I have no use to things dear to me. When you let yourself become attached, you become weak. I want to be strong. Strong enough so that no matter what, I can never be hurt.'" 

"No offense to Meia, but that's a pretty fucked up view of the world." 

"Yes, I know. When I recruited her, she was waiting for someone to 'take her away from life.' I told her that that if she was willing to find her own way, I would provide her with a place to do so. She learned everything as if her life depended on it. She learned how to control the Dreads faster than anyone I've ever seen." 

"A prodigy, eh? Sorta like me in that regard. I'm only nineteen, but I'm a grand master of kempo and nearly a black belt in judo. Add that to the fact that I can tear apart Gears with my bare hands and have Chi reserves deep enough to incinerate a large village in a single attack, and what do you get? Either a prodigy or a monster, depending on who you ask." 

"You're no monster, young man." Magno said, trying to reassure Fei. "You don't have the personality of one." 

"I doubt anybody that was at Elru would agree with you on that one," Fei mumbled. 

"What was that?" 

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just thinking out loud. Thanks for the info, Captain. By the way, would it be possible to get Emeralda signed on as one of the standard Dread Fighters? She somehow managed to bring her Gear here with us and it got transformed into a Dread." 

"Hmmm. Very well, but I'll leave the final decision up to Meia about whether or not she'll fight." 

"Captain, I don't mean to be rude, but this isn't a question of whether or not she'll fight. No matter what decision's are made, Emeralda will fight. I know her better than you might expect. She isn't the kind to just sit on the sidelines twiddling her thumbs while other people are out there fighting. If she can help out in a fight in any way, she'll do it." 

"Then why did you ask?" Magno inquired curiously. 

"Because I'd like her to interact with people more. Despite her apparent age, she's still quite young mentally and emotionally. I believe associating with fellow pilots on a daily basis would be a good experience for her. She needs friends, Captain. And you don't need to worry about issuing her a laser- ring. With her speed, strength, and ability to morph any body part into a weapon, a laser-ring would be useless and probably get destroyed as soon as she morphed that hand. As for arming her Dread, it has four charged particle cannons, so ammunition won't be a problem." 

"It shouldn't be a problem to have her join one of the teams. But, like I said, the final decision of where she's placed will be up to Meia." 

"Thank you, Captain," Fei said, smiling as he walked out of the room. 

I think I know just the thing to help her out. Wait... why am I helping someone I barely even know? Oh, yeah. Her eyes... just like mine when I look in the mirror. 

"You're welcome, young man." 

Hmmm. This should prove to be interesting.  
  
+ + + +  
  


Fei was wandering down a hall looking for Meia when a mental message from Xenogears interrupted him. 

-Auto-repair complete. Systems are fully functional. Power levels at 50% capacity.- 

"Cool," Fei commented to himself as he turned adjusted his course to take him to the hangar. 

After a leisurely stroll that lasted only a few minutes, Fei reached the hangar. Entering, he saw Meia overseeing some routine maintenance on her Dread. 

Perfect chance. 

"Hey, Meia!" Fei called out. 

Meia turned to see who called her and scowled when she saw Fei walking toward her. She waited until he was within a few yards of her before speaking. 

"What?" 

"I'd like to talk to you about something. Alone. If you're not too busy, that is." 

"And what exactly is that?" Meia ground out. 

"Follow me and you'll find out," Fei said, turning and walking away from the group. 

Meia growled slightly before following the red-haired young man until they reached Xenogears. Once there, Fei turned around and leaned against one of the Gear's feet. 

"So what did you want to talk about?" Meia asked impatiently. 

"You're being surprisingly open-minded toward me." 

"You've yet to show yourself to be as much of an arrogant fool as that other pilot And you've been startlingly polite for a man." 

"Bit of a backhanded compliment, but hey - we take what we can get, eh?" 

"Is that all you wanted to talk about?" 

"Don't care much for small talk, eh?" Fei winced. "No, actually there are a couple of things I'd like to talk to you about. The first of which is adding Emeralda to a Dread team. The Captain already gave her okay, but she left the final decision up to you. And before you ask, she already has a Dread. It's that silver, orange, & green one off to the side over there. Honestly, it won't matter to her if she's on a team or not. She'll fight beside us without even being asked. The reason I want her to join a Dread team is because she needs friends. Putting her in a situation where she interacts daily with people doing the same thing she's doing is probably the best way for her to make friends." 

"Hmmm. All right, I don't see why not. I'll have to see how good she is before deciding where to place her." 

"Thank you. Now, on to the main topic. Your parents." 

"What about them?" Meia asked, tensing. 

"I was curious why you're always so distant to everyone when you're not angry at someone so I talked to the Captain. I must say, your life has been surprisingly similar to mine." 

"And exactly why should that matter to me?" 

"I understand how you feel about your parents. Somewhat. I lost both of mine in almost identical ways. Hurts a lot, doesn't it? Enough that you just want to bury yourself in despair, right?" 

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Meia growled, looking away from Fei. 

"Look me in the eyes and say that. If you still mean it then, then I'll never speak about this again unless you bring it up." 

"If it'll get you to leave me alo -" 

Meia cut herself off as she made eye contact with Fei. What she saw there frightened her with the similarities to her own eyes. She saw the loss, anger, despair, and self-hatred she saw every time she looked in the mirror. There was a single difference between the two pairs of eyes, aside from the obvious difference in color. Meia could see a spark of resolve in the back of Fei's eyes, as if he was silently vowing, every second of the day, never to let life drag him down into the pits of despair. 

"I... what the hell would you know?!" 

"Let me tell you a story about a little boy who lived in the country with his mother and father. His father was a great martial artist and a war veteran, so he wasn't home much. When he was home, he and the boy spent as much time together as they could. The father started to teach his son everything he knew about martial arts while the boy was little more than an infant. By the time the boy was six, he had learned everything his father could teach him. The boy's mother was a very caring person who doted on her husband and son. She would play ball with him for hours at a time, until he got tired. Then she would sing him a lullaby to help him sleep. 

"Then, one day, when the boy was two-years-old, his mother changed. It wasn't obvious because there was no physical change. No, the change was entirely mental. The mother sensed something in the boy that could cause him to become a very important person when he grew up. Because of that, she began putting him through every kind of torture she could think of - physical, mental, emotional... if it could cause the boy pain, she did it to him. While the father was away on his missions, the mother would take the boy to a lab and perform experiments on him. 

"The boy tried to tell his father what was wrong, but the father was so in love with the mother that he ignored what was going on behind his back. To deal with the pain, the boy created a second personality inside his head; someone to shove all the painful memories on while he kept all the good memories to himself. The second personality became warped and twisted by the memories and his envy of the boy keeping all the good memories from him. 

"The torture continued until the boy was six. Then a man came for the boy while the father was there. The man and the father fought. The battle was long and brutal, but the father was overmatched because he had to worry about not harming his family accidentally, while the man had no such limitations. Watching the fight and his mother's indifferent expression to his father's plight caused something in the boy to snap. The other personality took control then. The surge of power from the boy killed the mother and stopped the fight. 

"Taking advantage of the father's distraction, the man knocked him out and took the boy. For the next ten years, the boy lived as an assassin, working for the man. When the boy was only eight-years-old, he designed and built his own Gear. The Gear was easily the most powerful weapon ever created. Using the Gear and even without its help, the boy killed thousands of people over the decade he worked for the man. 

"The boy lost track some time after making his three thousandth kill. Soon after the boy had turned sixteen, the boy's father found him again. This time, he was prepared to do whatever it took to save his son's life. After another fight, the father had managed to weaken the man and knock out his son. With the boy out of the way, the father was free to concentrate on the man. There's an old saying where I'm from. It's 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' I know a modified version of that. Hell's wrath pales compared to that of a vengeful parent. 

"The man was defeated and killed. Before he died, though, he managed to transfer his very soul into the father's body. The father was barely able to remain in control long enough to construct a third personality for the boy to hopefully keep the second from emerging again and take him to a village where the boy could possibly lead a normal life. Some time during the three years the boy, now a young man, stayed in the village, the father lost the battle against the man's soul. 

"However, the man didn't act until three years after the young man had been taken to the village. Then, he arranged for the complete destruction of the village by causing the young man enough mental trauma that his mind would shut down, allowing the warped personality to take over again. The man's plan was only half successful. The village was wiped from the face of the planet, only a crater remaining to mark the village's former location, but the second personality had lain dormant for so long and the constructed personality was strong enough that he couldn't stay in control for long." 

"Is there a point to this?" Meia whispered, not trusting her voice to go any louder. 

"Yes, there is. Despite all that happened to him, the boy swore to himself that he would not let himself be dragged down by despair. His mother's death was an accident. One he was the cause of, but an accident nonetheless. His father saved his son's life at the cost of his own soul. The boy had no control over what happened to his mother and to simply wallow in sorrow and self-pity, waiting for someone to end his life for him, would be throwing his father's sacrifice right back in his face." 

"Okay, so your life was a lot like mine." Meia admitted, growling. "Big deal. Just what was the point of that, anyway?" 

"I simply told you a story and gave an example. What you do with that information is up to you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to run some tests on Xenogears." 

With that, Fei walked a few yards away from Meia and climbed up to Xenogears' cockpit in giant, altitude-eating jumps. Meia watched as the cockpit sealed shut as soon as Fei was inside. The Dread team leader's expression took on a thoughtful look as she slowly walked away from the massive machine. Inside the cockpit, Fei watched her walk away. 

Why the hell did I do that? I hardly even know her! But... her eyes... they're too similar to my own. *Sigh* I guess I just can't stand seeing someone go through the torment I went through. Well, all I can do now is hope what I told her helps and wait for her to come to a decision on her own.  
  
+ + + +  
  


The next few days were fairly uneventful. Emeralda had quickly made friends with Dita, Barnette, and a few of the other Dread pilots after being placed on Meia's team. Hibiki had spent most of his time trying to avoid Dita and failing miserably. To Fei, it was almost as if Meia was avoiding him, but considering that he spent most of his time either training in the gym or working on Xenogears, that wasn't too hard to do. Two days after Magno announced the incorporation of the men into the crew, Hibiki walked in on Fei while he was training. 

"Whoa," was Hibiki's only comment on seeing Fei leap up and plant his feet against the ceiling, pushing off at an angle a half-second later, despite the fact that the ceiling was nearly fifty feet high. 

Hibiki watched in awe as Fei began bouncing around the room like a ping pong ball on speed. Fei slowed to a stop next to a large piece of machinery and began punching it. Each time one of his fists impacted against the metal, a loud clang was generated and the machinery shuddered. Fei stopped punching after nearly a minute, leaving the once recognizable machinery piece as little more than a twisted pile of junk. 

Fei sighed disgustedly and started walking away from the scrap metal. He grabbed a towel off the rack and wiped it over his face once, then tossed it back on the rack without a second thought. 

"This bites. Emeralda's off with her friends and nobody else is good enough to spar with. Katas and exercise just aren't cutting it." 

"Just how the heck did you do all that?" Hibiki asked. 

Fei turned toward Hibiki and smirked, crossing his arms. 

"Martial arts, kid. You get good enough at it and you can do stuff you only dreamed of doing before. Ya wanna learn?" 

"Sure!" 

"I gotta warn ya first. My training methods will involve you experiencing a new meaning to the word pain." 

"Erk." Hibiki grunted before gathering his resolve. "It'll take a lot more than that to scare me off!" 

"Good." Fei placed his arms behind his back and spread his feet to shoulder-width. "Attack me." 

"Huh?" 

"I need to see what I have to work with in you. The best way to do that is to have you attack me." 

Fei smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. 

"Unless you're afraid to." 

"I'm not afraid!" Hibiki yelled, charging at Fei. 

The older man simply continued smiling as he leaned his head backward an inch. Hibiki's right cross missed by millimeters. The teen stepped back a bit and tried a side kick. Fei's hand flashed out and caught Hibiki's ankle a mere inch before it hit him. 

"Lesson One, Hibiki. Do not let anger cloud your judgment. If you know you have a bad temper and get angry easily, learn to focus that anger into a weapon, not a pair of blinders. You'll have to learn to ignore jibes like the one I used on you unless you want your opponents to have a tactical advantage over you. Now, calm yourself and let's try again." 

Fei released Hibiki's ankle and the boy stepped back, preparing to attack again. The older man returned his arm to his back and nodded. Hibiki launched into a flurry of punches and kicks. Fei twisted out of the way of each of them without moving his feet once. Hibiki noticed this and smirked to himself. Without warning, he dropped into a crouch and tried to kick Fei's legs out from under him in one motion. Fei grinned and hopped over Hibiki's leg. Hibiki looked up to see Fei's fist less than an inch from his face as the man's feet touched the ground. 

"Not bad, Hibiki." Fei said, pulling back his arm. "Didn't expect you to try that. Now, stand up and prepare to defend yourself." 

Hibiki did as he was told and nodded to Fei after sliding into a stance with his arms held up in front of him like a boxer's and his feet at shoulder- width, one slightly farther forward than the other. 

"Okay, I'll start slow, then gradually speed up until you can't dodge or block my hits anymore, okay?" 

"Gotcha." 

Fei did as he said, starting with punches Hibiki could easily slap aside or dodge. Then he started adding kicks, which Hibiki would either block with his shin or twist around. As Fei began speeding up, Hibiki gradually started missing punches or kicks until it was all he could do to block even a single punch. 

"That's good enough." Fei commented, stopping his assault. "Take a breather while I talk." 

Hibiki leaned down and placed his hands on his knees, taking deeper breaths than usual. 

"Alrighty then. You're not bad for someone with no obvious training or experience." Hibiki glared at him, causing Fei to raise his hands in a placating gesture. "What I meant was that you don't carry yourself like a martial artist or a fighter, which can be a good thing if it makes your opponent underestimate you. Judging by how well you did, though, you must have gotten into quite a few street fights on Tarak." 

"Yeah. It's not easy being a third-class citizen, y'know." 

"Third-class? Tarak uses a class system? Just like Solarians. How disgusting." 

"Huh?" Hibiki grunted. "Solarians?" 

"One of the cultures on my planet. They lived in an aerial city and considered land-dwellers to be little more than domesticated animals. First- class people were nobles or the elite. Second-class were only slightly less privileged. Those of the third-class, however, were land-dwellers that had been captured by Solarians and forced into slavery." 

"That's close to how it is on Tarak. I was just another cog in the machine back there." 

Silence reigned for a moment before Fei spoke. 

"Anyway, I'm done seeing how good you are. Training starts now." 

"Oh? What are we gonna do first?" 

"Endurance training," Fei replied with a smile that sent shivers down Hibiki's spine. 

"Endurance... training...?" Hibiki squeaked. 

"Yup. I repeatedly beat you to a bloody pulp and heal you afterward." 

Without giving him any time to protest, Fei charged Hibiki and began raining blows on him that blew through his meager defense as if it weren't even there. It wasn't long before Hibiki felt his world go dark, only to wake up seemingly moments later, without a mark on him. He looked up from where he was lying to see Fei smirking down at him. 

"You were unconscious for an hour, Hibiki. Let's see if we can do better than that, eh?" 

Hibiki was promptly pulled to his feet and the beating began again. The teen lasted for about the same amount of time before falling unconscious again. When Hibiki woke up again, he managed to stammer out "H-hold it!" before Fei could attack him again. 

"What?" 

"Is this all my training is going to be?! You beating the crap out of me?!" 

"No. I said this was endurance training. I'm doing this so I don't have to pull my punches as much when I teach you new techniques. With this training, you'll be able to withstand much more pain before it starts to effect your movements. Think about it: how much of a psychological edge would it give you for an opponent to hit you with their strongest attack and you don't even flinch from it?" 

Hibiki blinked and thought about it for a moment. 

"Heh. You have a point. I just wish it didn't have to hurt so much." 

"Tell ya what." Fei said. "I'll train you for two weeks. At the end of those two weeks, you can decide whether you want to quit or keep training. If you keep training, it'll be until I've taught you everything I know and you can fight me without me having to hold back. Deal?" 

"Deal," Hibiki agreed, before sighing as the beating began again.  
  
+ + + +  
  


Fei sighed as he leaned back in the seat in Xenogears' cockpit. 

Damn. What the hell am I doing wrong? It's almost like it's impossible for Xenogears to go above fifty percent capacity. Well, at least Hibiki's training is going better than this. 

Hibiki had gotten to the point where he could last under Fei's barrage for nearly five minutes before falling unconscious, and even then he was staying awake more often then not. The teen's pain threshold had skyrocketed even on the first day and Fei had begun teaching him a few practice katas on the second day of his training. 

I swear, the kid's a friggin' sponge. It's like learning everything I can teach him is a matter of life and death to him. Even I didn't have that much determination when I was first learning martial arts despite my aptitude for it. 

"Xenogears, have you finished analyzing those crystals yet?" 

-Affirmative. Analysis confirms that they are Peacsis crystals.- 

"Hmmm. I wonder what possible reason they could have for being in there... That reminds me. Xenogears, you were running pretty low on fuel from our fight with Grahf. How are you doing on that front?" 

-Unit Xenogears does not use nor require fuel.- 

"Huh? Then how the hell are you running? Wait... don't tell me your engine was changed as well." 

-Affirmative. Self runs on Peacsis reactor core.- 

"Well, shit! No wonder I haven't been able to figure out what the problem was! I assumed the engine hadn't been changed! Dammit! Alright, let's try this again from a new angle. Describe the probable function of the crystals, based on the fact that they're made of Peacsis and their possible relation to the new engine." 

-Probable function of crystals is that of energy storage and amplification.- 

"So those are the new Ether Amplifiers, eh? Nice. Now, what's the status of the Peacsis core?" 

-Peacsis core structure is incomplete.- 

"Whaddaya mean, 'incomplete'?" 

-Self was exposed to The Event for insufficient amount of time to complete construction of Peacsis core.- 

"Crap. Are there any side effects to it being incomplete?" 

-Affirmative. Explosion of core due to instability of energy field imminent in three hours, five minutes.- 

"Double crap. What's the caliber of explosion we're talking about here?" 

-Instant and total incineration of everything within five hundred meters.- 

"Triple crap. Is there any way to avert the explosion?" 

-Affirmative. Prolonged exposure to another Peacsis core will provide sufficient data required to complete construction of core.- 

"Phew." Fei sighed. "Where's the Peacsis core of the Ikazuchi?" 

-On the other side of the wall behind Unit Xenogears.- 

"Fun." Fei groaned before bringing up a holo-screen and patching into the bridge. "Hey, Captain." 

|Ah, how are you, young man?| 

"Just fine. Look, I need to ask for a really big favor." 

|What is it, young man?| 

"I just found out that Xenogears' engine was transformed into a Peacsis reactor core when I arrived here. While that provides Xenogears with a nearly limitless supply of energy, there is one hell of a downside. The core's construction is incomplete and the only way to complete it is to directly expose Xenogears to another Peacsis core for a prolonged amount of time. To do that, I need to tear a hole in the wall between the hangar and the Peacsis core room." 

|I see. And you're sure there's no other way?| 

"Yup. And if I don't expose Xenogears to the ship's core, my Gear's core will explode in about three hours and take out everything but the tip of the ship's nose." 

|That is a problem.| Magno replied. |Very well, I'll tell Parfet to get her crew out of the core room long enough for you to do what you need to.| 

"Thank you, Captain. I'll be tearing through the wall in ten minutes." 

|I'll make sure they hurry.| 

With that, Magno cut off the transmission. Ten minutes later saw Xenogears tearing a hole in the wall between the hangar and the core room. The Gear stepped forward and stood directly under the Peacsis core, the middle horn just barely touching the core's energy field. Blue energy began arcing between the core and Xenogears. 

"Okay, partner, let's get down to business. What exactly do I need to do now?" 

-Unit Xenogears requires exposure to Peacsis reactor core for no less than two hours. Reconstruction process will take place automatically.- 

"That's it? *Sigh* Look, just wake me up when you're done, alright? I've been losing a lot of sleep working on you, y'know." 

-Warning. During the siphoning process, the ship's Peacsis Reactor Core will be unstable. Though unit Xenogears is capable of absorbing enough Peacsis energy to prevent leakage to the hangar, prolonged exposure to raw, unstable Peacsis energy will have unknown effects on pilot Fei.- 

"Whatever." Fei yawned. "I trust your shielding systems, Xeno." 

With that, Fei relaxed as best he could and quickly fell asleep.  
  
+ + + +  
  


As Fei slept, Meia sat at a table in the cafeteria, quietly eating lunch and ignoring the discussion between Emeralda, Dita, Barnette, and Jura. Her thoughts were still churning from the conversation she'd had with Fei. 

Why the hell am I still thinking about him?! He's just a man! So what if his life was like mine?! 

Meia angrily speared a piece of meat on her plate and shoved it into her mouth. 

I shouldn't be thinking about this so much! How do I even know he was telling the truth and not just feeding me a line of bullshit? Emotions are a weakness, so why the hell am I letting this affect me so much?! 

A hand coming to rest on her shoulder startled the Dread commander out of her introspection. She looked up to see Emeralda gazing down at her. 

"Are you all right, Meia?" Emeralda asked. 

"Why wouldn't I be?" 

"Well, you've been sitting there staring at an empty plate for nearly a minute now." 

"I was... thinking, that's all." Meia snapped. "Just... leave me alone." 

Emeralda flinched slightly at Meia's tone and turned around to leave with a subdued, "Alright." 

The woman only managed to get a few steps before she was stopped. 

"Emeralda, wait." Meia stated, standing. "I want to ask you something." 

"Yes...?" 

"How much about Fei's past do you know?" 

Emeralda blinked in surprise before answering. 

"Not much, really. He couldn't remember most of his life up until just before we arrived here and I haven't had a chance to ask." 

"I see. Then you wouldn't know." 

Before Emeralda could form a response to that, Meia walked off, leaving the empty plate where she'd been sitting. The emerald-haired woman stared after her for a moment, then shrugged and returned to her table.  
  
+ + + +  
  


The two hours Xenogears spent in the Peacsis core room passed uneventfully for everyone on the ship. Fei was rudely awakened by a keening wail. 

"What the hell is that?!" Fei groggily snarled. 

The wail abruptly cut off as Xenogears answered him. 

-That was the third attempt made to awaken pilot Fei. Reconstruction process is complete.- 

"Good." Fei yawned. "Let's get the hell out of here." 

-Affirmative.- 

As Xenogears turned around and started walking toward the hole it had made earlier, Fei took a moment to run a quick diagnostics scan of the Gear. It was now running at 100% capacity and efficiency. The ion cannons, however, had been upgraded into a set of charged particle cannons that were fired from the hands instead of the arm blades. 

"Excellent. Now I just need to test it out." 

-What should be done about the hole?- 

"Let's seal it back up." 

Once it was back in the hangar, Xenogears turned around and began bending the wall back into its original shape. Once done with that, Fei activated a particle cannon at the lowest power setting available and ran Xenogears' right hand along the seams, fusing the wall back together. Fei then guided Xenogears over to where it had been standing before. 

"Well, the diagnostics scan came up fine so let's see what's been changed." 

With that, Fei opened the cockpit and jumped down to the ground. He walked a ways away from Xenogears and turned to look back up at the Gear. While the torso had remained unchanged, everything else had been altered even more. The three spikes that formed Xenogears' crown had shortened slightly and become more blade-like. The six spines had been attached to Xenogears' back in a pair of fan shapes and were now half their original lengths. Armor plates had covered the arms, making them look almost identical to the Vandread's arms, but the blades were nowhere to be seen, though there was a slot just behind each wrist at the end of a raised section that ran the length of the forearm. The shoulders had been redesigned into simple spikes similar to the Vanguard's, but larger and angling up a bit. The knees and upper legs had slimmed down and become more articulated, allowing the knees a full range of movement. A knee blade similar to Weltall's angled upward from the top of each shin. Finally, Xenogears stood nearly a head shorter than it had previously. 

"Nice." Fei whistled. "But what happened to the arm blades?" 

-Katar blades are now housed within Unit Xenogears' forearms.- 

"Extend 'em." 

A wide green sword blade slid out of the slot on each forearm and locked into place, a pale green glow emanating from them. 

"Very nice. What about the rest?" 

-The smaller frame is more energy efficient than the previous one. Spines had no visible purpose, so they were reconfigured into thrusters and secondary energy collectors. Stiffness and sluggishness was detected during times when Unit Xenogears was walking on ground. Legs were correspondingly rebuilt to allow greater range of movement and faster reaction time.- 

"Cool." 

At that moment, alarms began blaring throughout the ship. Fei looked around and saw Hibiki running toward his Gear. 

"Hibiki!" Fei shouted, catching the teen's attention. "What's up?" 

"We're under attack!" Hibiki replied as he leapt into the Vanguard. 

Fei remained silent as he followed Hibiki's example, then shot out of the hangar after the Vanguard. Once outside, the two male pilots saw eight cube- types flying toward the ship. 

"We won't even break a sweat on these losers. Hibiki, you got the left four. I'll take the others." 

"Gotcha. You guys had better get ready, 'cause Hibiki's here!" 

Hibiki flew toward his designated targets, hacking through the first two mecha like they weren't even there and almost casually dodging enemy fire. As he reached the second two, they began circling him. Hibiki smirked and had his Gear brace itself as the two fighters flew at him. The two mecha collided with Hibiki's in an impressive explosion that was ultimately futile as the Vanguard was completely unscathed by the blast. Checking his monitors, Hibiki saw that Fei had dispatched his foes just as quickly. 

"Hm. Did all you ladies see that?" Hibiki asked, making his Gear shift into several different macho poses. "Let's face it. You folks just can't get by without us!" 

Hibiki had just started to laugh when Xenogears came up behind his Gear and backhanded it in the head. 

"Idiot. Let's just get back to the hangar."  
  
+ + + +  
  


Upon arriving back at the hangar, Hibiki and Fei found a not-so-warm welcome waiting for them in the form of an angrily growling Meia. Dita was standing off to one side, cringing away from Meia. 

"You must be here to thank me for taking care of things again," Hibiki smirked at Meia from the open cockpit of the Vanguard. 

"Don't be so conceited." Meia replied. "You put yourself in a lot of danger by doing that. You're only to act on my direct orders." 

"Oh, lighten up, Meia." Fei stated as he landed a few yards away from her, though Xenogears was nearly forty yards away. "Those cube-types aren't even a warm-up. It's not like they could do any real damage to us. Besides, we were already here when the alarms sounded, so why shouldn't we have taken care of it? Not to mention your Dreads didn't have to waste any ammo on those losers." 

Hibiki jumped from the Vanguard's cockpit to lightly land at its feet. 

"And how do you expect to beat the enemy if you let a little danger bother you? Well, I guess you don't have to." Hibiki flexed one arm. "You got me now to protect you." 

"Small dogs always bark the loudest," Meia growled. 

"Ooh, good one," Fei chuckled. 

"That may be true," Hibiki replied, "but it's better than not being able to bark at all." 

"Except that you're not the one that's barking. It's just your machine, right?" 

"Gh! Are you lookin' for trouble with me?" 

"What's the matter? Can't handle the truth?!" 

"Who died and made you king? Who do you think you are?!" 

"You're *our* prisoner!" 

"Alright, you two." Fei cut in. "That's enough childish bickering for now. Besides, unless I'm going senile, I do recall the Captain saying that us men were going to be incorporated into the crew." 

Without waiting for an answer, Fei walked off, leaving the two pilots to glare at each other and him – though the last was done only by Meia.  
  
+ + + +  
  


"Like I said, I saved you guys –" Hibiki started saying to Magno. 

"We." Fei corrected the teen from where he was sitting next to Bart on the edge of the control well and munching on an apple he'd snagged from the cafeteria. "And it wasn't like the ship was in any real danger, anyway. Those cube-types are even more worthless than the unmodified Vanguards." 

"Whatever." Hibiki sighed, rolling his eyes. "Since we saved you, at least listen to us when we ask you for a favor. Isn't that how the world goes around?" 

"How the world goes around, huh?" Magno replied. "All right, what is it you'd like me to do?" 

"First of all, you gotta do somethin' about that girl. The one that keeps buggin' me with that crazy alien stuff." 

"Oh, that must be Dita." 

Hibiki leaned toward the Captain and began speaking in a low voice, as if conspiratorially. 

"Also that creepy one with the weird thingy on her face. Tell her to quit complainin'. She shouldn't try to butt in on a man's fight." 

"Negotiations; just not his forte," Bart quipped. 

"Got no argument from me there." Fei added, taking a bite out of his apple. "Kid really needs to work on his people skills." 

"All right, why don't we try assigning you to the Reg crew," Magno stated. 

"The Reg crew?" Hibiki asked. 

"It's an interesting job. And it's under different management." 

"Different management, huh? That sounds good to me." 

With that, Hibiki walked out of the bridge. 

"And what about you, Mr. Wong?" 

"What about me?" Fei asked, taking another bite of his apple. 

"How would you like to work on the Reg crew?" 

"Naw. I'm happy where I'm at. Don't have a problem with any of the other pilots." 

"That wasn't a request, young man," Magno said, her voice taking on a slight edge. 

Fei glanced down at his apple to see all that was left was a core. He tossed the core into the air and fired a small Guided Shot at it, incinerating the leftover fruit. 

"Okay, okay." Fei stated. "Might as well see what it's like, at least. But if I don't like it, I ain't stayin' there an' I'm still gonna fight if we're attacked, no matter what you say." Magno absently nodded as she continued staring at where the apple core had been. "Later, ladies." 

While Bart and the women on the bridge were still speechless, Fei calmly exited the room. 

I don't care what Meia asked. Magno silently mused. If the young man is capable of throwing around energy blasts like that as casually as he did, I'd rather not get on his bad side.  
  
+ + + +  
  


"Yo, Hibiki! Wait up!" 

Hibiki turned around to see Fei jogging toward him. 

"What's up?" 

"I got sent down here too. Got nothin' better ta do, anyway." Fei nodded toward the door Hibiki was standing next to. "This the place?" 

"Yup." Hibiki replied pressing the button to open the door. "Reg Central. Gah!" 

Fei looked in over Hibiki's shoulder to see two counters on either side of the room with three women wearing white and red dresses with big pink bows on the back standing behind each. The girls smiled and bowed slightly. 

"Welcome to Reg Central!" they chimed in unison. 

Fei raised an eyebrow and pushed past Hibiki as the teen muttered, "What is this place and what do they do here?" 

"I'm guessing it's some sort of shop or something." 

"Close, but not quite," a woman's voice stated. 

Fei and Hibiki looked over to see a brunette wearing a yellow shirt, red pants, and a sleeveless trench-coat left open. 

"We don't actually sell things here." 

"So what do you do, Miss...?" Fei asked. 

"Gascogne Rheingau. You must be Fei Fong Wong and Hibiki Tokai, right?" 

"Yup. The Captain reassigned us here. Dunno if I'm gonna stay here, though." 

"I didn't think the Captain was that lenient when reassigning someone," Gascogne stated in amusement. 

"I've got no idea either way. But I figure I can leave whenever I feel like it. The only things stopping me are the fact that I've got nowhere else to go and that Emeralda is making some friends here. I'm not leaving her behind and I know her well enough to know she'd follow me if I left." 

"And what makes you think we wouldn't stop you?" 

"You could try to stop me." Fei smirked coldly. "But that doesn't mean you'd succeed." 

Fei's eyes glinted dangerously for a moment before he sighed. 

"I'd rather not have such thoughts hovering around if I'm going to be staying in Reg and the chances of me wanting to leave are slim to none right now and in the foreseeable future." 

"There's no way in hell I'm going to wear that!" Hibiki's voice cut in. 

Fei and Gascogne looked over to see a trio of girls holding up one of their uniforms in front of Hibiki, who was glaring at the cringing girls. 

"Hey, go easy on 'em, Hibiki. If you're gonna be working here for a while, it's not a good idea for your co-workers to fear or hate you, ya know." 

"Sound advice." Gasco commented. "For both of you." 

"I never give advice outside of combat that I'm not willing to follow myself." Fei smirked, then frowned a moment later. "But hell will freeze over before I wear one of those dresses." 

"Honestly, I don't care what you wear, just as long as you work hard and follow our motto. Girls!" 

All six of the girls simultaneously posed as they chirped, "Smile, smile, smile!" 

"Okay..." Fei sweatdropped. 

"Just what are we going to be doing here, anyway?" Hibiki asked. 

"Yeah." Fei added. "You never answered my question earlier." 

"We supply the Dreads with weapons, ammunition, and extra armor. We'll try you two out and see what you're best at." 

After nearly an hour of trying out various things, Fei and Hibiki were assigned to – 

"Inventory?!" Fei asked, incredulously. "So we're just glorified errand boys, eh?" 

"I wouldn't use so crude a term..." Gascogne hesitated, "but that's essentially it." 

"I guess. It's not bad." Hibiki stated. "But, it sorta puts me back where I started. Just another cog in the machine. You know what? I'm here because I was tired of being cooped up in a place like this! And here you are, trying to tell me... I gotta go back to that?!" 

"I gotta agree with him. This really ain't much. Despite not having anywhere else to go, I was sorta hoping for something a bit more... challenging. Physically, at least. I'm too much of an 'odd man out' to be just another number cruncher or – like Hibiki said – cog in the machine." 

"I see." Gasco began, smirking. "So, you two are just like us after all." 

Gascogne walked off, gesturing for them to follow. Their curiosity piqued, Fei and Hibiki did as they were told. Gascogne led the two men to a corner of the large room they were currently in. She pulled out a whitish-silver sphere and tossed it in a low arc toward Hibiki. When it reached a certain point in mid air, it simply stopped and hung there as it began projecting holographic images above it. An orbital view of a blue planet with several rings composed of chunks of ice and rock, followed shortly by pictures of grandiose streets and parks. 

"This is Mejele?" Fei inquired. 

"Don't you think it looks kind of gaudy?" Hibiki added. 

"Sure do. It's a real clean and beautiful place, though. Don't get me wrong – I hate the way everything's so superficial there. Mejele is a world where everyone's friendly to each other and everyone's havin' a good time. But that's only on the outside. Most of the women of Mejele love showin' themselves off." 

The image changed to one showing a trio of circular towers with lighted windows dotting their surfaces. A lighted glass dome topped each tower. 

"They do stupid stuff, like competing with their neighbors over who has a better garden. They're always wasting energy over things like that. And because of it," the lights in the towers went dark, "one of our living units had to be shut down. Our Captain had no other place to go, so she started up this pirate gig with all of us. 

"For pirates, there's no difference between men and women. That's why we spared your lives. If we were the real Mejelian army, you would have all been dead before you could spit out the word 'please'." 

Hibiki gulped loudly as images of corpses floating in Zero-G passed through his mind. 

"I doubt it." Fei snorted. "I've been smacked around by Gears that could tear apart mountains before with minimal injury. And only two people can put up a fight against me in physical combat. One of them is Emeralda." 

"Don't forget that when we found you, you were only semi-conscious," Gascogne reminded Fei. 

"Yeah, I remember. The only reason I passed out again was because I didn't sense any potential threats near me. Uh... Hibiki? You okay?" 

Gascogne looked over at the teen to see him still staring off into space. She smirked as she walked around behind him and smacked him in the back. 

"Hey!" She stated sharply. 

Hibiki stumbled forward a few steps in surprise before he managed to catch himself. 

"So the way I figure it," the head of the Reg crew continued as if she hadn't stopped in her explanation, "you're just like us, since you've also got nowhere else to go." 

Gasco snagged the sphere out of mid air and spun it on one finger. 

"The number one rule on this ship is that we've all gotta work ta eat. You can complain all you like, but before you do, make real sure your work's done." 

"So what're our jobs supposed to be?" Hibiki asked. 

Gascogne's answer was to set a couple of buckets filled with water on the floor in front of her and shove a mop toward each of the men. 

"Just keep a smile on your face." 

"Hn... whatever..." Hibiki sighed as he grabbed the mop and bucket closest to him. 

"Hey, Hibiki." Fei stated, following Hibiki's example. "Wanna see who can clean half this floor faster? The divider's the middle aisle. I'll even handicap myself to make it more of a challenge." 

Hibiki smirked in response. 

"You're on." 

Gascogne could only sweatdrop as Fei jogged to the other side of the room and the two took off running, mopping the floor as fast as they could.  
  
+ + + +  
  


Later that day, Fei returned to his "room" across from Hibiki's and sat down on the cot. He looked around at the converted cell, sighing. 

This place is more Spartan than my room on the Yggdrasil, even considering that it's a converted cell. 

Fei sighed again and leaned forward, only to jerk back again when he felt a sharp pull at the back of his skull. Reaching back to feel his head, Fei found his ponytail was pulled taut for some reason. 

Aw damn. I'm sitting on my own fucking ponytail. *sigh* Maybe it's time I make some changes. 

With that thought in mind, Fei began rummaging through some of the boxes scattered throughout the former brig. In short order, he found most of what he was looking for. Without a second thought, Fei went to work.  
  
+ + + +  
  


Emeralda hummed tunelessly to herself as she walked down the hall toward Fei's room. She'd just finished her last simulator drill and wanted to spend some time with Fei since she'd been too busy to do so lately. As she neared his room, she saw a man wearing a white and blue-gray outfit walk out carrying a bundle of something on the shoulder facing her, blocking her view of his head. 

"You there!" Emeralda snapped, sliding into a defensive stance. "Who are you?!" 

"Huh?" The man mumbled as he turned toward her, revealing red hair and violet eyes. "Oh, hey Emeralda! What's up?" 

"Fei?!" Emeralda gasped, unconsciously relaxing her stance. 

"Yup! How do ya like the new look?" 

Emeralda took a moment to examine Fei visually. The most notable difference was his hair. It was cut short enough that it reached to just below his shoulder blades and was pulled back into a ponytail loose enough that his hair resembled Id's hairstyle, but was still kept out of the way. 

Fei's shirt was similar to his old one, but now the collar was closer to his neck and the sleeves stretched down to his elbows. Underneath the shirt was a blue-gray bodysuit made of some sort of spandex-like material that covered everything below his neck except for his fingers. Covering each forearm was a flat bracer made of black metal that seemed unusually thick. The waist/groin guard was gone, and in its place was a simple blue-gray sash used as a belt to hold up a pair of white trousers with blue cuffs. The top of the trousers was hidden by the bottom of the shirt. Instead of Fei's well-worn tie-up sandals, the man wore a pair of black slip-on boots similar to Hibiki's. 

"We've changed a lot, haven't we?" Emeralda asked, almost sadly. 

Fei's smile instantly melted into a somber expression. 

"Yeah... we have. But, no matter what happens, Emeralda, I'll be there fore you." 

Fei dropped the bundle he'd been holding and hugged Emeralda, the emerald- haired woman responding in kind. 

"You've been a good friend and the closest thing I've ever had to a daughter." At this, Fei chuckled a bit and relaxed his hug. "Although, considering your new appearance, I think we may have to change that relationship a bit. How would you like having a brother, hm?" 

Emeralda beamed at Fei and tightened her grip on him.  
  
+ + + +  
  


Despite Fei's changes, the next week was relatively quiet and routine. The only really notable occurrence happened on the seventh day... 

Meia stared down at the note she'd plucked off her door and read it aloud. 

"'Did you really think I'd forget to pay you back?' Just what the hell are they talking about?" 

A small smiley face was drawn on the bottom left corner of the note. Meia continued to stare at the note for a few more moments before crumpling it up and tossing it in the trash can. As she opened the door and stepped out, she felt a slight tug against the front of her ankle. The woman looked down to see a trip wire pulled tight against her foot. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that it ran up the side of her doorway. 

Oh, shit! was Meia's only thought as she looked up just in time to see a metal bucket full of freezing cold water tipping over toward her. Her scream of shock as the water hit echoed throughout the entire residential area.  
  
+ + + +  
  


Heh, heh. Fei silently chuckled later that day. The look on her face was priceless! Although, maybe saying, "Not so funny when *you* get soaked, is it?" to her wasn't the wisest thing I've ever done. 

Gascogne had asked him how he'd gotten a swollen black eye when he came to work, but he'd merely chuckled in response and otherwise remained silent on the matter. Just as Fei was about to begin work, alarms began blaring. 

"We under attack again?" Fei asked no one in particular as the Reg crew began bustling about. 

"Most likely," Gascogne responded. 

"Cool." Fei grinned savagely, heading toward the door. "Later!" 

Hibiki entered the room from the back just in time to see Fei run out the door. 

"All right! Time to - hey! Wait for me!" 

Gascogne grabbed Hibiki by the back of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. 

"Stage hands aren't supposed to be up there with the actors." 

"What?! But you let Fei go!" 

"That's because the Captain okayed it for him to leave once we got into a battle. She didn't say anything about you, however." Gascogne dropped Hibiki in a chair and pressed a button on the back of it, activating a set of restraints that locked into place around Hibiki. "Just take a load off and watch how it works, understood?"  
  
+ + + +  
  


Less than a minute later, Fei was settling into Xenogears' cockpit as the Gear launched from the hangar. As he took a position beside & slightly back from Meia's Dread and gazed at the odd sphere that was designated as the enemy, a holo-screen with said pilot's face on it popped up in front of Fei. 

"What are you doing here?" Meia all but snarled. 

"Getting ready to kick that sphere's ass. Why?" 

"You're supposed to be working in Reg!" 

"Actually, that's only when we're not fighting. The Captain already okayed it. You can ask her if you don't believe me." 

"We don't need your help, damn it!" 

"Well, you've got it anyway." 

Meia merely growled in response and cut the link. Fei smirked as he waited for the order to attack. A moment later, the sphere started moving toward them. Each of the nodes covering it spun a bit as a tentacle extended from each one, then hardened into crooked, jagged spines. A wave of light traveled from the sphere out to the tips of the spines, then disappeared. 

"A... sea urchin?!" Jura's voice filtered over the comm link the Dreads used during combat, disgust evident in her tone. "Hey! Are we seriously gonna fight that thing?!" 

Meia started to reply, only to be cut off. 

"An enemy is an enemy. Doesn't matter what it looks like." Fei smirked as he considered his next words. "Besides, just imagine how good it would make you look to destroy something that ugly." 

Meia considered tearing into Fei for a split-second, then discarded the idea when the Urchin continued approaching. 

"Team leaders, check and confirm your formations. All teams, commence your attack now!" 

"Roger!" 

The Dreads shot toward the Urchin, with Fei and Meia at the lead, Dita, Jura, and Emeralda just behind them. In response, the Urchin's spines began spinning in place and rotating around the sphere as it continued approaching the fighters. The Dreads unloaded missile after missile at the spiked sphere, but the spines simply blocked all of them and wove around Crescens' particle blasts like they weren't even there. 

"The needles block our shots." Jura commented. "What now?" 

"These guys are really bad aliens!" Dita cried out. 

"They've been observing and analyzing our actions." Buzam's voice filtered over the comm-link. "Perhaps now that they have their data, they have no more use for us." 

"Whatever the reason," Fei grinned, "it's still our job to kill these bastards before they kill us." 

With that, Fei fired both particle cannons at the Urchin, being careful not to hit any of the Dreads. To his surprise, the Urchin spun horizontally, turning one of the only two areas unprotected by spines toward him. The particle beams seemed to arc toward two of the six red gems set into that area in a pattern like two arrowheads pointing toward each other. Fei's eyes nearly bugged out of his head when the beams were absorbed by the gems. 

"Well that sucked." 

Given that he'd just watched his most powerful long-range weapon get effortlessly neutralized and that something about the gems on the Urchin tugged at his memory, it's rather understandable that Fei was caught by surprise when six crimson beams shot toward him. The beams slammed into Xenogears, sending it flying backwards. 

"Well, I guess you weren't much use after all," Meia said, smirking at Fei over the holo-screen. 

"Aw, shut up! I don't see you doing any better yourself!" 

"Are you all right, Fei?" Emeralda asked. 

"Just fine, sis. All except for my pride." 

Fei managed to halt Xenogears' backward movement and shot toward the Urchin again. Before he could get near it, the Urchin had already passed by the Ikazuchi, damaging the starboard arm with its spines. Coming up beside it, Fei pulled back one of Xenogears' arms and extended the katar blade to hack at the machine's unprotected side. However, the Urchin once again spun horizontally, slamming its spines into Xenogears' back. 

"Dammit!" Fei snarled as he was sent flying away again. "This thing's reaction speed is absurd!" 

"Not to mention it's too fast for me to hit," Emeralda added, "just ignores the missiles, and absorbs your beams." 

"Meia!" Dita exclaimed. "Let's get Mr. Alien out here!" 

"No!" Meia replied. "He's one of our enemies because he's a man! Besides, we've already got one out here. We don't need another out here screwing things up even more." 

"Normally, I'd be extremely insulted by that." Fei snapped at Meia as Emeralda snarled wordlessly at her commander. "But I think killing this bastard is a little more important than something as petty as that." 

The Dreads fired more missiles at the Urchin, only to watch as they exploded harmlessly against its spines. In Barnette's Dread, she noticed her ammo gauge start dipping into dangerously low levels. 

"Ms. Gasco! Got an order to go!"  
  
+ + + +  
  


In Reg Central, the girls were busily working at prepping the Dreki with ammo to reload the Dreads. 

"What are you doing out there?!" Hibiki growled at the monitor showing the battle. "No, not that way! Dammit, get this thing off me! You guys need me out there!" 

Just as one of the Reg crew was about to hand Gascogne a list of munitions, the ship was jolted when the Urchin made another pass by it, nearly knocking everyone off their feet. 

"This is so unfair!" Hibiki shouted. "Somebody get me outta this thing!" 

As if on cue, the restraints deactivated. Hibiki looked around and saw Gascogne standing a few feet away, a remote in her hand. 

"Let's go." Gascogne said, offering him her hand. "You're gonna see what we stagehands do up close and personal." 

Less than a minute later, Hibiki and Gascogne were launching from the Ikazuchi in the Dreki, a heavily armored ship that resembled a ladybug. Once it was far enough away from the ship, Gascogne fired the thrusters, sending them rocketing toward the battlefield. Once there, five Dreads and Xenogears gathered around the Dreki. Xenogears and Crescens merely hovered to the side as the four Dreads were latched onto by manipulator arms from the Dreki. 

"All right, girls." Gascogne ordered. "Let's do this all in one go. Fifty seconds tops." 

"I see you brought Hibiki along," Fei commented as Xenogears floated around to hover in front of the Dreki. 

"What?!" Meia shouted incredulously. "What the hell is he doing here?!" 

"I'm just showing him what it's like to be a stagehand, up close and personal." Gascogne replied. "Only fifty percent to go." 

"Look out!" Hibiki suddenly exclaimed. 

Fei and Emeralda spun around just in time to see the Urchin approaching them. As the two fighters shifted out of its path, Gascogne simply twisted the Dreki so that the Urchin's spines slammed into its armored back and simply repeated the maneuver when the thing made a second pass at them. 

"That's some pretty impressive armor you've got there, Ms. Gascogne," Emeralda said, whistling in appreciation. 

"So, this is what stagehands do?!" Hibiki choked out. 

"I told you the pilots aren't out there fighting on their own. So do you finally believe me now?" 

As she finished speaking, the Dreki finished reloading the Dreads. 

"Delivery complete. Give 'em hell now, girls." 

"I'm so full!" Dita happily chirped. 

The Urchin made another pass at the Dreki as the Dreads shot off, Xenogears following Meia's Dread, while Emeralda stuck close to Jura. 

"Fei, you got any ideas?" Emeralda asked. 

"Not a one. You?" 

"Nope." 

"Damn." 

Back in the Dreki, Hibiki noticed that one shipment hadn't been delivered yet. 

"Hey, ya still have one shipment left in there." 

"Oh, is that so? Well, we brought it all the way out here, so we may as well use it." 

"Huh?" 

Only seconds after the Urchin made one last pass at the Dreki, sending it spinning away, the last cargo hold opened up, revealing the Vanguard, which promptly took off toward the Urchin. 

"That machine," Jura and Barnette gasped. 

"That's right! Hibiki's here!" 

"Mr. Alien!" 

"Good ta see ya out here, kiddo." Fei grinned savagely. "We need the Vandread, so you know what to do!" 

"Yay! Mr. Alien, let's do what Mr. Fei said and combine our fighters!" 

Before Hibiki had a chance to protest, the Vanguard was sucked into Dita's Dread, forming Vandread Dita again. 

"All right..." Hibiki reluctantly stated, then grinned. "Let's do it!" 

With that, the cannons flipped into place and fired at the Urchin. The speed of the beams kept the Urchin from dodging too effectively, but it was still able to get out of the way with nothing more that a couple of broken spines. 

"Damn it!" Hibiki growled. 

"Hibiki!" Fei shouted. "Keep shooting!" 

Just then, the Urchin began firing off spines in random directions, only these ones weren't jagged or crooked, more like spears. As the Vandread continued firing, Fei and Meia shot toward the Urchin, dodging the spears, hoping to catch it by surprise. Unfortunately, the Urchin then decided to start aiming. Meia's Dread was hit and sent flying backwards while Xenogears managed to dodge all but a few of them and got close enough to strike at the Urchin's unprotected side again. 

"Got you this time, bastard!" 

Expecting it to smack him with the spines again as he slashed at it, Fei was caught by surprise when the gems fired another round of particle blasts at him, then spun and launched a series of spikes at Xenogears, sending it flying back uncontrollably. 

"Damn you!" Fei roared. "I'm not going –" 

"- to lose to this thing!" Meia growled, unknowingly finishing Fei's statement as she gained control of her Dread and shot back toward the Urchin, only to gasp in surprise when she saw Xenogears about to collide with her. 

To everyone's shock, however, a bright light flared around the two machines and time seemed to slow down as they stopped and hovered in place. 

"What's happening?!" Meia gasped as white light flooded her cockpit. 

"I don't know, but hold on!" Fei replied. 

Meia's Dread split apart into several pieces as parts of Xenogears rearranged themselves. Xenogears' head retracted into its body as the "crown" separated and hovered over the torso as if waiting for something. The arms detached from the body and hovered to the sides of the torso. Xenogears' feet disconnected from the legs as they each split into a trio of long, jointed claws and the legs separated from the hips. Finally, the spines on Xenogears' back slid against each other and retracted into themselves, halving their length and forming three sets of thrusters. 

With Xenogears' transformation complete, the pieces of Meia's Dread began attaching themselves to the Gear. The upper section of the Dread's body opened up and wrapped around Xenogears' torso as the arms slid into place on it. The wings of the Dread connected to Xenogears' back on either side of the thrusters. The lower section of the Dread's body split in half and slid in between the legs and torso of Xenogears, forming new hips when the legs connected to them. The nose cone of the Dread segmented and nearly doubled in length as it flipped around and connected to Xenogears' lower back, forming a serpentine tail. A line of fins ran down the middle of the tail's top. The two missile-like pods that were attached to the bottom of Meia's Dread split into two parts apiece, the front parts twice the length of the rear ones. The front parts attached to the Gear's forearms, then split open a short distance from the tips to form three-clawed talons while the rear parts connected to Xenogears' feet and ankles, forming a second joint in the leg similar to a cat's. The odd lump on the new mecha's chest unfolded and connected to Xenogears' crown, with the spikes facing backward, completing the transformation. 

What was once a Dread and a Gear was now a combined mecha similar to the Vandread. Instead of a humanoid fighter, however, the combination of Xenogears and Meia's Dread created a silver and blue dragon with a forward-facing tusk on either side of the face. Two azure eyes flared into life as the dragon reared back, a synthesized roar emanating from it. 

"Do you see that?!" Barnette gasped in awe. 

"It's so cool!" Jura added. 

"When are those two going to stop pulling tricks out of their sleeves?" Bart asked no one in particular. 

In Vandread Dita, the two pilots were left speechless at the sight and had stopped firing. 

Inside the new mecha, Meia groaned and opened her eyes as she felt something pressing down on her back. She turned her head to see that Fei was laying on her and in the process of opening his eyes. 

"That was definitely an... odd experience," Fei groaned as he sat up. 

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" 

"Huh?!" 

Fei looked down to see Meia glaring at him over her shoulder. 

"I didn't ask for your help, so get out! Now!" 

"And I didn't ask to be here!" Fei snapped defensively. "So don't –" 

Fei was cut off by the Urchin slamming into the Xenodread. 

"Damn. Look –" 

"I thought I said to get out!" Meia growled. 

"You don't get it, do you?" Fei sighed. "We have a job to do, dammit! Now are you going to sit here and bitch while the Ikazuchi gets torn apart or are you going to help me pilot this thing and kick that bastard's ass?" 

"... all right. Let's go." 

Fei smiled as she turned back around and her hands moved up to rest on the control spheres before her. 

"Sorry 'bout this." Fei said as he leaned forward and placed his hands on the second set of spheres, pressing his chest against her back in the process and trying to push the faint increase of heat in his cheeks from his mind. "But I gotta just to reach the controls." 

Meia nodded absently and wondered why it was getting so warm before ruthlessly crushing that thought and trying to ignore the faint blush on her cheeks. 

Without further delay, the Xenodread shot toward the Urchin, body-slamming it just as it was about to hit the Ikazuchi again. Before they could strike it again, the Urchin flew off, prompting the draconic mecha to follow at speeds that caused them to become little more than blurs, though a trio of energy contrails marked the Xenodread's location. 

"That acceleration is incredible!" Barnette gasped. 

"Meia's so lucky," Jura whined, almost pouting. 

"YEEEEHAAAAAWWW!!" Fei howled. 

"You're actually enjoying this?!" Meia inquired, incredulous. 

"It's one of the few joys I have in life. It's proof that I'm still alive!" 

"Then we'll just have to see how long that remains true!" Meia replied, urging the mecha to go faster. 

As they continued chasing it, the Urchin suddenly came to a stop as its spines straightened into spears. The Urchin fired off all the spears, creating a virtual storm of death. Unfortunately for it, Xenodread Meia flowed around the spears effortlessly. In a quick burst of speed, the robotic dragon dodged the last set of spears and came to a stop behind the Urchin, whirling around to face its opponent. 

"This is exactly what I've waited for!" Fei and Meia said in perfect unison. 

The Xenodread started moving toward the Urchin as it pulled its arms and legs close to its body and tail, respectively while a green glow formed just in front of its tusks that quickly engulfed the entire mecha. With a burst of speed that made it look like it had been a slug earlier, the Xenodread shot toward the Urchin and punched through it like a bullet through wet tissue paper, a line of green energy the only thing marking its passage. A second later, the Xenodread came to a stop near the Ikazuchi as the Urchin exploded in a brilliant flare of light behind it. 

"I think it's safe to say they weren't meant to be stagehands," Gascogne quipped, leaning back in her seat. 

"I'm certainly glad that's over with," Magno sighed in relief. 

"Don't just leave the spears there." Parfet said as she walked between the Captain and BC. "I think they might be useful." 

Back in the Xenodread, Fei leaned back and sighed heavily. 

"Man, that was fun. But it sure is a mess out there." 

"I never thought we'd agree on anything." Meia stated as she turned partway around to look at Fei. "But do you understand now? You can't win every battle with just your Vanguard out there." 

"For the last time, it's not a Vanguard and it has a name: Xenogears. And I already knew that I can't win every fight by myself." Fei grinned. "Though the same goes for you and your Dread, y'think?" 

"Perhaps..." Meia sighed and turned back around. 

"I'm just glad Mr. Alien is only combining with me!" Dita exclaimed happily as she leaned back against Hibiki, who started futilely protesting. 

"Hey..." Jura mused aloud in her Dread. "So that means that my Dread might be able to become something elegant, too. Awesome."  
  
+ + + +  
  


Later that day, after the Captain had changed the ship's name to Nirvana, Fei and Hibiki tiredly walked into the area that had been converted to their quarters. 

"Ah, so you're back." Bart observed. "Hey, what's with those Vanguards of yours, anyway?" 

Fei and Hibiki ignored Bart's question, staggered into their rooms, and slumped down on their beds in perfect unison. 

"Are you all right?" Duero asked. 

"Just didn't expect that last attack to be so damned draining." 

"Draining? How?" 

"I used my Chi to increase the Xenodread's speed. Think I went a bit overboard. Most of what I pumped into it just got burned off uselessly." 

"Chi?" Duero inquired. 

"This," Fei sighed, summoning a sphere of yellow-white energy in the palm of his hand. 

While Bart simply stayed where he was and Hibiki stepped up beside the navigator, Duero walked over and studied the ball up close for a moment before speaking. 

"Interesting, but it doesn't answer my question." 

"Heh. I was hoping you wouldn't be too curious after seeing it." 

"Oh, Mr. Alien!" 

Hibiki flinched and looked toward the source of the voice to see Dita running toward him with a small wrapped package in her hands. Pyoro could be seen hopping along behind her. 

"Here! I made this for you!" 

"Uh..." Hibiki hesitated. "What is it?" 

"It's food!" Dita replied, unwrapping it, then spearing a piece of meat with a toothpick and holding it up near Hibiki's mouth. "Try it." 

Hibiki hesitantly grabbed the food with his mouth and ate it. As soon as he swallowed, Hibiki sighed in pleasure. 

"This stuff is great!" Hibiki exclaimed, then grabbed the container and began devouring the rest of it, causing Duero to raise an eyebrow questioningly. 

"You really like it?! Oh, I'm so happy, Mr. Alien!" 

"Would ya stop calling me Mr. Alien?!" 

Duero and Bart stared for a moment longer before the doctor turned back to Fei. 

"So, about Chi?" 

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Dita asked. 

"Persistent, ain't ya, doc?" Fei smirked. "Anyway, Chi is the energy generated by all living beings. Without Chi, you're a corpse." 

"So how did you use it to increase the speed of the Xenodread?" Hibiki asked. 

"I've trained in martial arts my entire life. Chi manipulation was just one of the fields I trained in. When you first learn it, it's usually subconsciously and is used to increase your physical abilities, like strength and speed. With enough training, you can fire off blasts of raw Chi that can topple buildings with only a single blast." 

"That still doesn't explain how you could use it to power up the Xenodread," Duero stated. 

"I'm gettin' to it. Xenogears possesses a system called the Chi Amplifier. How it works is rather complicated. What it does is much simpler, though. It enables me to channel my own Chi through Xenogears as if the machine was my own body. It's called an amplifier because it increases the effects of whatever I use my Chi for to the size of Xenogears. If it didn't have the amplification ability, I'd have to damn near kill myself just to pull of one or two super- powered punches in Xenogears." 

"So if I had one of those, my Vanguard might be able to blow away one of those Urchin things?" 

"If you train hard enough and long enough, then eventually, yes, you'll be able to do things like that, Hibiki. However, that's IF I build a Chi Amplifier for you. You have no idea how hard those things are to build. I learned how to manipulate Chi after only six months of training when I was six-years-old. Think you can top that, kiddo?" 

"You bet!" Hibiki eagerly answered. "When do we start?" 

"First we finish resting up from this fight." Fei replied, laying down on his cot. "Then we keep training until I decide you're far enough along in your training to start learning Chi manipulation." 

Hibiki groaned and returned to his own room, silently vowing to himself that he would learn everything he could from Fei.  
  
+ + + +  
  


The next day, Gascogne was surprised to see Fei and Hibiki walk through the door just after she finished giving the crew their daily instructions. 

"Hey, boss!" Fei smiled. "What's up? We late?" 

"Wha – but I thought you two –" 

"Quit? Nah." 

"So why'd you two choose to come back?" Gascogne asked. 

"We might as well pull our weight when we're not fighting." Hibiki replied. "No sense in not doing it." 

"I see. Well, it'll be good to have you back."  
  
+ + + +  
TBC...  
+ + + +  
  
Author's Notes: Before any of you e-mail me and say that I left out some scenes, I'll say this now. If a scene remains unchanged from how it is in the anime, I most likely won't write it out. As for Hibiki's attitude in the final scene... well, everybody changes as time goes on and his martial arts training DOES include discipline, after all. 


	5. Announcement

Dear God, but I'm slow when it comes to putting out announcements, aren't I?br  
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Anyway, in case you haven't seen my profile page, I'll no longer be updating my fics on fanfiction.net. However, I've provided a link to my new website on my profile page.br  
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You can get to my site from there or by clicking here.br  
br  
- Raiu 


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